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Online billing, Part 1: Leaving the paper trail behind

19 Sep 2007

Perhaps the most significant savings that paperless billing could achieve would benefit the environment directly. Electronic bills would cut down on the consumption of trees. If all US households viewed and paid their bills online, the reduction in paper would save 16.5 million trees a year, according to a recent report published by Javelin Strategy and Research.

Weeks before hearing that Apple had cut the price of its iPhone, the gadget's first buyers were met with a different surprise: an AT&T phone bill that in some cases was almost the size of a Stephen King novel. The wireless carrier meticulously detailed every connection and every data exchange. Some customers received bills several hundred pages thick, delivered in cardboard boxes.

AT&T has since stopped sending long bills, although the company said the billing change had nothing to do with the consumer backlash. While a big box of printed cell phone bills may be comical, it highlights the situations that consumers face in deciding to switch from paper bills to electronic billing.

The push to move consumers from paper billing to electronic billing has been languishing for years. No more than 15% of households with Internet access receive their bills and banking statements exclusively online.

Despite the cost of paper, printing and postage, many merchants still cling to traditional billing methods as well. Some provide their customers with both paper and e-bills, with an option to opt out of monthly mailings. Few merchants have completely adopted paperless billing.

Read the full article here.

Read Online billing, Part 2: Problems and possibilities.