Tag Archives: Green

Paperless, Week 2

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This week I’m formatting my post to more easily distinguish desired mail from junk mail. One might also notice that we’re not very good about walking out to the mail box every day. Just another reason to go paperless.

Monday and Tuesday

Mail

  • Stages magazine from Fidelity. Right on the cover, they advertise going paperless. I hope this applies to the magazine as well as their statements.
  • @UCSD, a magazine for alumni.

Junk

  • Solicitation for some token amount of life insurance for Mrs. sirhc, through our credit union.
  • Solicitation from AMVETS to leave donations on the doorstep for them to pick up. I’m pretty sure I get one of these every month, but this is the first time I’ve ever taken the time to determine what it is.
  • Solicitation from a junk removal service. They even direct me to their web site. Gee, thanks.
  • PennySaver and associated circulars (15 pages, not including the PennySaver and included CouponSaver).
  • Local business circulars, from RedPlum, which is apparently a company that specializes in sending circulars. 41 pages.
  • LEGO catalog. As awesome as this is to flip through, I can browse their web site just as easily.
  • REI catalog. Same as the LEGO catalog.

The RedPlum circulars do include the weekly specials for Sprouts and Vons, which we do frequent (we also shop at my favorite store, Trader Joe’s). Both stores have their weekly specials on their web site, so there’s no problem losing the RedPlum circulars.

Wednesday and Thursday

Mail

  • Results for Mrs. sirhc’s last ultrasound. It’s a girl!
  • The June issue of San Diego Westways. Part of our AAA membership.
  • The June issue of Parenting. Part of a free two issue trial, which Mrs. sirhc has already canceled.

Junk

  • Invitation to join the IEEE Computer Society. I’m already a member of USENIX, SAGE, and LOPSA. I suppose I could throw in IEEE and ACM as well, but I’ll first see if work will pay for it. Of all the junk mail I get, I expect the computer societies to be paperless.
  • Solicitation for AT&T’s internet, phone, and TV services. Junk, but with the quality of Cox’s internet service, I’m almost tempted.
  • Another voting guide to instruct me which way I should vote on the issues. With a little more than two weeks until the election, I expect a lot more of this. My mistake, apparently, was not registering as a decline-to-state voter. I’ll remedy this after the election.
  • Solicitation for a United Airlines credit card. I get this about once a month, both at home and at work. I guess they think I’ll eventually break down.
  • Solicitation from UCSD’s Computer Science and Engineering department to support their tutoring program. This is what I get for registering for the tutor reunion (and then not going anyway).
  • Catalog for Basset, which apparently sells furniture.

Friday

Mail

  • Rebate check for my cell phone.
  • Rebate check for Mrs. sirhc’s cell phone.

Junk

  • Pre-approval notice from our credit union that I’m eligible for an auto loan.
  • Pre-approval notice from our credit union that Mrs. sirhc is eligible for an auto loan.
  • Local business circulars, consisting of 45 pages.

Normally, the pre-screened offers would bother me. However, we’re actually in the market for a new car right now. Not very green of me, I know.

Saturday

Mail

  • Time magazine. Including the warning about my subscription expiring. Darn.

Junk

  • Something called NC Magazine. There sure are a lot of community-oriented publications where we live now.
  • Get1Free magazine. A coupon book that rarely contains anything I want.
  • An informative reminder that I can save on Alamo car rentals because I’m a Costco member. Um, thanks.

Ratio of mail to junk for week 2 is 8:19. More than twice as much junk than mail. It’s a good thing I recycle.

Going Paperless

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At least, as much as I can.

For years, people have been talking about the paperless office, an idealized concept in which all documents and communications are of the electronic variety. I don’t know about anyone else, but looking around my office, it is far from paperless. Sure, a lot of once was done on paper is now done via electronic means, but I still have more paper around my office than I’d like.

Still, the situation at my office is far better than at home. Every day I receive reams of paper in my mailbox that I do not need. Magazines (I never read and have unsubscribed from), catalogs (from which I’ve never ordered—opting instead for their web sites), weekly circulars (for stores I never shop at), credit card offers (for cards I’d never get), and bills (which I suppose I need, sort of).

In an effort to rid myself of the piles of junk I either shred or recycle every week, and save a few trees, I did two things. First, I signed up for paperless billing from all of my utilities and paperless documents from my bank and credit union. The immediate benefit of this, besides not having my mailbox filled with paper is archival. Bank statements take up room in filing drawers and that room runs out quickly. Bills just get shredded, because I have no desire for them to take up what little room isn’t being taken by bank statements. By opting for electronic delivery, I can save as many bank statements and bills as I want—for years—and it takes less space on my hard drive than my photo collection.

Second, I signed up for GreenDimes, which advertises itself as a way to stop junk mail and save the environment. Initially, I was going to sign up for the free account and use their pointers to manage the junk mail myself. Then I noticed that the $20 fee for their premium service is a one-time fee, not a subscription. So I opted for this service, to free myself of the hassle of freeing myself from junk mail. I don’t know how effective this service will be, but I’ll report back in a couple of months on the relative success or failure of it.

One thing I found odd about GreenDimes was the $1 offer. There are three options for this nominal sum: receive it as a check in the mail; use it to plant a tree on my behalf; or receive a free trial issue of Plenty, the magazine of hip, green living. I can’t help but think this is a test. The irony of the first and third options was immediately apparent to me.

I still receive periodical publications from memberships. My bank, AAA, Costco, and the Zoological Society of San Diego. Most of the time, these magazines go unread. I save some (Zoonooz) and toss the rest into the recycle bin. Still, if possible, I’d like to receive these electronically as well. A PDF file is far more environmentally-friendly, and takes up less space, than a print magazine.