Jump On the E-bill Train

I think it's weird how people don't understand the concept of ebills and paperless billing. It's simple, you get the same information but it doesn't clutter up your life or leave a paper trail for crooked mailbox thieves to steal. You can pay electronically, that I think most people get, but you don't have to ever EVER get a paper statement. AND if you do, you should complain. One day in the not so distant future, companies will CHARGE you if you REQUEST a paper statement. Just like the airline industry did with paperless ticketing, only hopefully they won't start charging you for every little thing like one checked bag or a snack in flight.

Half Assing It

On my continued pursuit of getting approved for a credit card, I have acquired a Target store card. I applied for the VISA card, but they decided that it was a better to just go ahead and send me a store card, you know, because I’m such a risky consumer (heavy heavy sarcasm here).

So anyway, I get my first ebill notification, and I add them to my list of payees on my new bank site but I realize that they won’t send my ebill to my bank. This really grinds my gears. I still have to go log on to the Target site, find out how much I owe, and then enter in the amount to pay from my bank site. It’s almost perfect. It’s sooo close to being an easy, idiot-proof process, but instead they require a leap from the Target Site to my bank site.

“Big deal, so what?” – that’s your response to my seemingly unfounded rant, fyi.

Did I ever tell you about my Subway story? About how my 6-inch sub sandwich turned into 128 bucks and a week of hassle? Human error happens, and having to manually enter in $ amounts leads to inevitable mistakes.

As a marketing kid, I know the importance of directing traffic to your website, I do, but there are better ways. Personally, when I’m paying the credit card bill and I see exactly how much money I throw away on impulse buys there, the LAST thing I’m going to do is rack up more charges. Give me an email coupon (because I’m such a valued customer) that directs me to the site instead.

Point in case: make my bill paying as easy and painless as possible, let me do it all in one place that is neutral and free of marketing ploys. Give the banks the ebill, and make me want to visit your website some other way. Let me associate the bank with spending money and the Target website with getting things that I want (think Vegas casinos using plastic chips instead of actual currency).

Bad News for the Postal Service

There are some pretty serious rumors flying around about the USPS considering moving to a 5 day work week. I feel a bit bad that I'm constantly ragging on the postal service lately, but they just aren't able to keep up now that most documents can be sent anywhere in the world at the click of a button for free.

What does this mean for America? If you are still among the laggards (that's marketing speak, you know) on the ebill train, then you had better plan accordingly when you send your paper checks. If they do cut out Saturdays, then there will be just that much more mail to process during the week. So it might actually take longer than expected, it may take 2 extra days for your letters to arrive... or maybe it won't. Personally, I don't care to find out.

Captain Planet is my hero

My generation grew up watching Captain Planet, a show that made it very clear that polluting oil companies are the bad guys, and that YOU the viewer can help save the world by picking up trash and planting trees.  

Maybe that's the reason why so many kids my age feel responsible for this planet, and actually go out of their way to cut down on waste.  Also, that's probably the most racially and culturally diverse group of superheroes I ever saw, so it probably taught us some ethnic tolerance, but maybe that's a stretch.

I just wanted to say that it really has become a big cultural movement, and I think it's more than a passing fad to be environmentally conscious.  Even at rowdy irresponsible drinking parties in college, people recycle the empties despite their inebriated state.

I for one am going to try to do my part, just like the powerful and blue Captain Planet.  A few energy saving lightbulbs, conserving paper consumption, and recycling can make a big difference... at least, that's what TV told me.   

It's easier to spend when someone else earned it

Just made my first car payments this month, very exciting stuff. New experiences in the real world. My very own responsibility. R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y....geez that's a long one.

It's a lot easier to spend money when you didn't have to earn it, but I have to admit some part of me really loves that I actually own something.

It's also a lot easier when the money isn't physically in your wallet, it's just this electronic stuff that gets pulled out of your account when you swipe a piece of plastic. I don't think I'm quite responsible enough to actually budget yet, so for now everything is just automatically drafted from my savings account (also a fairly new development) and I set up all my bills to go to my bank so I don't have to sort through a pile of crap to get my stupid account number.

Oooh, and I get to use my new debit card at an ATM today for the first time. I get to use ANY ATM that I want! Hooray for online-only banks, thanks for paying my ATM fees!

What’s in a Name?

So lately I’ve been hearing a lot about how to protect yourself from identity theft, and while I have been fortunate and have not been a victim ***knock on wood****, I do know plenty of people who have.  From what I’ve heard, it’s no picnic, and it can leave you with a lot more damage than the banks would probably have you believe.

My friend travelled abroad in London, for instance, and she told me that people have to take their hand and hold it over their debit card at an ATM to shield it from the hidden cameras thieves install in them.  Additionally, at restaurants, instead of handing your credit card to the stranger waiting on your table to take to the back of the restaurant away from prying eyes, the server must bring a card terminal to the table so your card never leaves your side. 

 

So what can you do to protect yourself from identity theft?  According to an article I read:

Though many folks worry about keeping their credit card information secure when shopping online, the top methods that identity thieves use to steal personal data are still low-tech……Watch your personal documents, be careful to whom you give out your data over the phone, and be careful of mail theft."

 

I really hate snail mail.  It’s SLOW, it’s WASTEFUL, and it actually puts you at risk for being a victim of FRAUD!  Information that goes through electronically has all sorts of fancy shmancy encryption so it’s actually a lot harder to hack than just sifting through a few garbage cans or opening a mailbox or two.

 

The other thing that really caught my attention was the personal information we put on social networking sites though.  Your birthday is enough for a crafty thief to get the information he needs to do all sorts of damage.

 

What a world we live in… you can’t tell your internet friends what day you were born without having to worry that you might get a bill for an amazing vacation you never took.

Save a Tree, Plant Another

http://www.centralhudson.com/about_us/news/july24_09.html

This electric company has the right idea! To get customers to sign up for e-bills to save them the cost of paper and shipping, Central Hudson Electric held a promotion to plant a tree for every person who signed up for paperless billing and electronic auto-pay.  Happy Arbor Day indeed!