No return envelope in bills, ARRGGHH!!!

[edhopper]

They stopped putting stamped or metered envelopes in bills a while ago.
But now, more and more I am getting bills (especially from Doctors) with no return envelope at all.
I know they are trying to save a few cents, but come on!
Yes, it is a pain in the ass to dig out an envelope and hand address it.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. And if lack of a bar code on the envelope slows down the mail, so much the better.

For them. They'll collect the late charge happily.
My favorite recently was a newspaper (Daily Herald in Chicago burbs) that charged me an extra buck for the privilege of paying by check instead of electronically. That was the last straw for me. Canceled.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear edhopper...

I think a lot of them realize that many people are paying electronically...

So an envelope just isn't needed...

:shrug:

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jokerman]

5. I've yet to find a bill I couldn't pay on-line.

My utilities, medical, even property taxes have been paid on-line. I applaud the companies that have reduced or eliminated the glut of wasted paper sent with bills.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. It's not wasted paper when it's sent to someone who pays by mail.

You're fortunate. Top of my head I can think of several bills that either do not accept online payments, have insecure payment pages, or charge a fee for online payments.

All of which is irrelevant to the OP's point which is that an expected inclusion -- a pre-addressed envelope as part of the package for a paper statement-- is now disappearing.

[myrna minx]

28. Qwest has decided to charge money for the privilege or "convenience" to pay online or

over the phone for their horse drawn phone coverage. So modern. :eyes:

[AwakeAtLast]

3. Online bill pay

Best thing that ever happened to me!

:hi:

[NoPasaran]

6. Paying bills by mail, how Twentieth Century

Do you also churn your own butter and tan your own hides?

[hobbit709]

7. The only bill I pay by mail is the mortgage

That's because the only electronic way they allow is automatic withdrawal from my bank account and I refuse to do so. I don't give ANYONE access to my account to make automatic withdrawals.

[laylah]

12. ...

snark? I dunno :shrug:

[edhopper]

15. You condescension is noted

Though it is more aptly directed at those who only accept payment by mail rather than me, who must pay these bills by mail and am not provided with a return envelope.

[nuxvomica]

8. I hate that

The company that plows my driveway in the winter bills without return envelopes. And they have no online way to pay them. I've offered on numerous occasions to pay at their office but they say they prefer getting paid through the mail. :shrug:

[edhopper]

9. I am not a Luddite

I pay most of my bills online.
But I have medical, dental and other bills that do not have that option. And they are sent often without a return envelope.

So your responses are not germane to my annoyance.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. Who cares if you are a Luddite?

If a paper statement is sent by mail, payment by mail is expected. Failing to include a return envelope is just a way for the creditor to save a little money. What's odd about that is the reason return envelopes became standard is that it increased the number of prompt payments (that's also why they used to be stamped, to cut down on the excuses to set the bill aside.)

[edhopper]

13. The general tone of the responses

was that I should pay online.
This was inferring that I was not up to speed on modern payment technology. This is irrelevant to my OP as I was referring to those bills I could not pay online. And since there is no late fee associated with most of these bills, I think the saving a few cents on the part of the payee counter productive to receiving payment.
And it is annoying.

[LibDemAlways]

17. I'd like to see some of these posters try to convince my

87 year old mom and her friends to pay their bills online. It's not that they couldn't learn computer skills, it's just that it's completely alien to them. They've always paid by check through the mail and are not about to stop now. And, yes, it is annoying when no return envelope is provided. I agree with you.

[Roon]

19. My Grandmother is the exact same way..

she pays ALL their bills by mail.

I used to wait for my SS check every month, it would get here late in the afternoon, I would fly to the grocery to cash it and get money orders. Then I would have to buy stamps and envelopes. Then filling everything out, etc.

I now am very grateful for direct deposit and online bill pay.

[Gormy Cuss]

18. You are being kind. The general tone was condescending.

It really doesn't matter why you are paying by mail. It's a legitimate payment option and until recently most bills came with addressed return envelopes. It is annoying that some don't include envelopes anymore.

[begin_within]

14. What's worse is when they supply an envelope that doesn't fit a check or their form

This seems to happen a lot with charities. The envelope they include isn't the right size for the form they included for you to fill out, and a regular size check doesn't fit in it either. You end up practicing origami to get it all to fit into their stupid little envelope.

[edhopper]

16. Yes

I find that often the case also.

[Yavin4]

20. If You Have MS Word, You Can Save The Envelope Address and Bar Code

And then just print it every month.

[Lasher]

23. Microsoft took that out of Word 2007

The post office complained that prior versions of Word were generating incorrect bar codes. But you offer good advice. There's one monthly payment I can't set up on autopay. For that I have printed a whole page of labels. Then each month I peel one of them off and stick it on an envelope.

[jobycom]

21. Rather, you should say YAYYYYYY!!!!1

Save trees, save the world, reduce global warning, and inspire people to go online all at the same time? It's a beautiful thing.

Seriously, most companies now figure that at most half the envelopes they send out will be used. Probably more like a quarter. Why waste that much paper and expense? In the past, when everyone mailed payments, it was a courtesy. Now it's an environmental waste.

Then again, I can't remember the last time I even opened a bill I got in the mail, as an individual. If they aren't online, I literally won't do business with them. It's not any ethical choice, I just don't want to spend time writing a check to some Luddite who can't hire a web designer.

[edhopper]

24. And those bills that don't?

Again, I am mainly talking about local doctors and dentist and others.
Your response is about "companies". Which has nothing to do with this thread.

[jobycom]

26. Well in that case...

They are assholes. :)

[fishwax]

22. I haven't really noticed that in my bills

though I pay all my bills online, so I don't need them anyway ...

[lost-in-nj]

25. just wondering

how many envelopes you could have written out in the time it took you to read and reply to this thread???

and really how hard is it to write out an envelope???
my Dr., landscaper, equestrian center, or pool guy don't send envelopes, so I go to my desk and get
some......

I wish this was the worst of my problems


lost

[edhopper]

27. Isn't this

one of the primary purposes of the Lounge? To bitch about trivial stuff?

[Debi]

29. Only when it happens to you (or I guess them)

other people's trivial problems are not Lounge-worthy.

Oh, and have your computer hacked just once and someone else deduct $$ from your account THEN tell me to pay all my bills on line. I pay by check - through the mail. And not receiving return envelopes w/my bills pisses me off.

[SoxFan]

30. I can top that

My internet provider wouldn't let me pay my bill online.

Verizon sold its northern New England landlines and dsl service to FairPoint Communications, which is apparently based out of an auto body shop a few miles outside of Bryson City, NC. If you use Firefox or Opera, the web site won't let you pay your bill online. This is a Freaking internet company.

[fabsfour]

31. Mine won't either - makes me crazy!

It's the only bill I have that I can't pay online except the doc type of bills.

We were apparently one of the very early customers of this company and are on an old billing systems of theirs. It's a huge hassle to get service too, which luckily we very rarely need. Because we're on this old system, we cannot pay online. So, my internet provider gets my one monthly check.

[av8rdave]

32. I pay all my bills online except for a couple of local ones

Those I can usually pay in person when out running errands anyway. Needless to say, a roll of stamps lasts me a LONG time.

Now as far as those postage paid envelopes that show up in my junk mail (credit card offers, RNC surveys, merchants, etc.)? I put ALL of them back in the mail....empty.

I used to switch around the offer letters, but I got too lazy to do it.