Apr. 10th, 2013

Nowadays, it seems it's politically incorrect to want paper ANYTHING, be it bags, tableware, personal care products, payment methods or books. Just how did paper come
to be so demonized, anyway?

Remember the paper dresses of the sixties? I haven't seen those lately, except maybe at clinics. Which brings me to one of the big pluses of paper - it's hygienic for patients who are ill or have fragile immune systems or live in large institutional settings where germs are particularly prevalent. It's also potentially compostable and biodegradable, though obviously you want to tailor the type of paper you use to the purpose for which it is to be used - sometimes the very virtue of paper is that it IS stable, at least when compared to rapidly-obsolescent electronic formats like diskettes, or websites that are here today, gone today, not to mention being easily compromised. Personally, I would think that e-waste would be a much more pressing problem than paper waste.

Very few employers these days are willing to give you a real-live paycheque. Instead, everything is done by electronic transfer. My union recently sent me a letter commanding me to go online and give them my e-mail address. No mention of what folks are supposed to do if they don't happen to HAVE one. Besides, while e-mail may be better for some things, e-mails are frankly not as exciting to receive as hand-written (or even machine-written) notes sent via good old Canada Post. Travellers' cheques have pretty much fallen by the wayside. And while I'm still able to use my chequebook to pay bills, I find I'm bombarded with requests to switch to e-billing. Financial institutions even have the gall to charge you extra for the privilege of paying your bills that way.

Then there's books, magazines and other reading material. Actually I DO have an e-reader, but I still resent it when books are available only in proprietary e-book formats or when magazines decide to convert to electronic-only format. Charge a little more for the paper and postage if you must, but please don't force me to switch or disenfranchise folks who don't have access to a computer or don't wish to use one for whatever reason.

"Paper" is NOT a four-letter word!
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