You Do The Math - Go Paperless

How many times does your credit card bill have a little ad printed right there on the bill that says, "Go paperless - pay online"?  Every month.  But, how many times does a catalog have such a prominent ad?  Rarely.  But they have no problem sending me a new catalog every month!

From mid August to early December, less than 4 months, they sent me about this many catalogs.  I recycled a couple dozen, so this stack doesn't fairly represent the massive quantities of paper spent on sales and marketing.

To be fair, a credit card only makes between 2% and 3% of the money you spend on a retail item.  (A tiny fraction of what the government makes.). So, is the stack on the right only 2.5% of the stack on the left (plus a couple dozen more catalogs)?

What's 2.5% of 5 pounds?  That's 5 times 2.5 divided by 100.

5 * 2.5 = 12.5

So, we get 0.125 pounds, which is 1/8th, so an eighth of  16 ounces equals 2 ounces.  Well, each letter from the credit card company probably weighs an ounce, so 4 months times 2 bills times 1 ounce equals 8 ounces.

OK, so the credit card companies might be paying a bit more than their fair share in paper costs.  (Remember, I already recycled a couple dozen catalogs.)

Also, this year I received far fewer catalogs than usual.  I guess I didn't spend enough on them last year.

Which brings me to the real point of this blog.  If a company can make money by sending you paper products in the mail (or otherwise), then it will.  This "go paperless" campaign is all about money, not the environment.  

Bah, humbug, right?