Jul 30
000

Possible Post Office Closings

By Paige Wills in Facts About The Paper Industry, How Paper Is Environmentally Friendly, Why Choose Paper?

 
USPS service delivery truck in a residential a...

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          The United States Postal Service, USPS, used to be the backbone of America. However, the bad economy and the development of new technology have hit the post office hard. Many people are now paying bills online instead of mailing their payments. Instead of sending letters, people are sending e-mails, which is causing the USPS to change in order to keep up with the times.

            In order to stay afloat, according to an article by Amy Bingham titled “U.S. Postal Service May Close 3700 Post Offices – Is Yours on the List?” the post office is considering closing 3,700 post offices nationwide within the next year.

            Bingham reports the Postal Service has 32,000 retail locations nationwide (more than McDonald’s, Starbucks and Walmart combined!) The USPS is facing an $8.3 billion budget deficit. Closing post offices is just one of several proposals put forth to help reduce costs.

            In the article, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe said he announced plans to stop delivering mail on Saturdays, which he said could save $3 billion annually. This move would have to be approved by Congress. 

             According to the article, every state except Deleware has post offices up for review and the post offices will be reviewed based on:

  • How much money it brings in
  • How many hours of work are performed there daily
  • How close it is to another post office

         Bingham reports of the 3,700 post offices up for review, a little over 3,000 of them have annual revenue of less than $27,500 and a workload of less than 2 hours per day. It takes about $100,000 to run a post office.

         Many of the proposed closings are in rural areas, where another post office isn’t nearby. The Postal Service plans to partner with community businesses to create Village Post Offices. These offices will sell stamps and ship packages; however, it will not offer custom shipping or passport services. Granhom said the USPS plans to open about 2,500 village post offices in the next year.

           According to the article, Congress doesn’t legislate funds for post offices. However, it does control the naming of post offices. This year, Congress has proposed 50 bills to rename post offices.  President Obama has signed 23 bills into law, three of which were to rename post offices. This means that 13 percent of all legislation passed this year was to rename post offices!

         Senator Ton Carper (D-Del.), the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the postal service, said in the article,

“The Postal Service is facing a dire fiscal crisis and two challenges — the rapid transition to electronic communications and the lingering after effects of the Great Recession — which threaten its very existence. In order to survive, let alone thrive in the 21st century, all options have to be considered and the Postal Service has to modernize the way it does business, including where and when it does business.”

         Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which oversees the Postal Service, said in the article:

“The Postal Service has 170,000 more employees on the payroll than needed to deliver the mail. Mail volume has dropped 20 percent in the last five years because of new technology,” Issa said. “Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction. There are, however, many difficult decisions ahead that must be made to improve operations, reduce costs and return the Postal Service to financial solvency.”

          Click here for a list of Post Offices that are being reviewed.

          What do you think this means for the future of paper-based communication? Will paper-based communication or the post office eventually become obsolete?

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Jul 25
000

Toilet Paper without the Tube?

By Paige Wills in How Paper Is Environmentally Friendly, Why Choose Paper?

 
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          Cardboard toilet paper tubes seem to be a staple for arts and crafts projects. The cardboard tubes make great telescopes, binoculars and paper people. The possibilities are endless. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune titled “Kimberly-Clark Testing Tubeless Toilet Paper,” cardboard toilet paper tubes may become a thing of the past. Kimberly-Clark began testing tubeless toilet paper sales in October 2010 through the Scott Naturals Tubeless Brand. 

            However, some people are skeptical. Have you ever had a roll of toilet paper where the cardboard center came out? It just doesn’t seem to roll quite as well in my opinion.

       Here is an excerpt from the article:

“According to a Kimberly-Clark news release, U.S. households use an estimated 17 billion bath tissue tubes annually, amounting to 160 million pounds of waste.

The company conducted a survey of 1,000 people that found 85 percent throw the tubes out with the trash.

At Walmart, Scott’s Naturals Tube-Free costs $2.97 for four rolls containing 205.2 square feet compared to the tube-inclusive Scott brand, which costs $3.98 for four rolls containing 419.2 square feet of paper.”

      Here are some fun facts about toilet paper from toiletpaperhistory.com:

  • About 70-75 percent of the world’s population doesn’t use toilet paper (over 4 billion people!)
  • In an average household, a roll of toilet paper lasts 5 days (I don’t think my family meets this criteria)
  • Each person uses about 8 or 9 sheets of toilet paper per use
    • That is an average of 57 sheets per day, 100 rolls per year (20,000 sheets)
  • It takes about 384 trees to make how much toilet paper one person will use in his or her lifetime.
  • Approximately 83,048,116 rolls of toilet paper are produced each day!
  • 810 rolls of toilet paper are produced from a single tree.

         This was announced in October of 2010. However, who knows if this trend will catch on. What do you do with the cardboard tube? Do you throw it away, recycle it, or use it for crafts? Would you buy tubeless toilet paper?

         Click on this link to see a YouTube video from CNN about the release of tubeless toilet paper. http://youtu.be/e9H3WjOk6go

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Jul 20
002

“Would you like your receipt with you, in the bag, or via e-mail?”

By Paige Wills in How Paper Is Environmentally Friendly, Why Choose Paper?

 
Cash rounding receipts from ICA, Karlskrona, S...

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         Retailers may be starting a new trend: e-mailing receipts instead of printing them, according to an USA Today article titled “Retailers Ditch Paper and Pen, Use E-mail for Receipts”by Brittany Shammas.
         According to Shammas, retailers such as Gap and Nordstrom began offering paperless receipts several months ago.
         Shammas reports retailers believe it is a convenient and environmentally-friendly option. They say consumers won’t have to dig through their purses and wallets looking for a receipt. It will be easily and readily accessible via e-mail if needed.
          A downfall is many people view it as a ploy to get your information and e-mail address so they can market to you.

“‘It’s a subtle way of saying, ‘How can I invade your personal life but not offend you at the same time?’ I’ve got to give them credit — it’s a pretty ingenious act,” said Britt Beemer, a retail analyst and founder of America’s Research Group (USA Today Article).”

         John Talbot, assistant director of Indiana University’s Center for Education and Research in Retailing understands customers’ concerns about spam. However, he said if retailers are serious about building relationships with its customers, it wouldn’t take advantage of their e-mail addresses.
          I assume if you need to return an item, you simply print the receipt and take it in the store with you. However, to me that sort of defeats the purpose of being environmentally-friendly. Even though most people don’t return items that often, the paper size would equal out. How many receipts do you think make up one single 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper. Receipts usually aren’t very big, so it seems there would be a lot of wasted paper unless the return could be done electronically as well?
          Another concern is if all stores convert to paperless receipts, my e-mail will be inundated with receipts. This could be great for tax purposes because it would make it easy to sort the receipts into folders. However, I already receive a ton of e-mails. I would almost have to make a separate e-mail address for receipts only because I’m afraid if every purchase I made was sent to me via e-mail that my e-mail would overload.

         In an article by theHuffington Post titled “Retailers Go Green: Ditching Paper and E-mailing Receipts,” A Nordstrom spokesperson told the Boston Herald that in five years, 60 percent of retailers will go paperless.
          What do you think? Do you believe receipts via e-mail will eventually replace paper receipts? Do you prefer receipts via e-mail or in-store?

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Jul 18
000

Solar Paper

By Paige Wills in Why Choose Paper?

 
Solar cells on a Photovoltaic panel at the Nat...

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          Going green is a trend in today’s society. However, one thing we know is green energy isn’t always cheap or easily installed. However, according to a blog by Tara Thean on Time’s website titled Hit “Print” for Solar Panels, “according to a paper published in the journal Advanced Materials, it is now possible to print photovoltaic cells on paper as you would any document – and almost as cheaply too.”

            Solar paper was developed by a team of MIT researchers. The types of paper that these photovoltaic cells can be printed on include:

  • Printing paper
  • Tissue paper
  • Newspaper
  • Tracing paper

            Now you may be wondering how the photovoltaic cells are printed on the paper. Thean summarized the process in her blog post below.

“As the paper is run through the solar printer, it enters a vacuum chamber, where a spray of photovoltaic material passes through a mask in the shape of solar cells and is deposited onto the surface of the sheets. After five such layers are applied, a functioning photovoltaic device emerges from the other end.”

         An additional benefit is that solar paper is extremely durable. Solar paper can be printed and folded without being damaged. According to Thean’s blog post, the MIT scientists demonstrated solar paper’s durability by printing the cells on a piece of PET plastic, which is thinner than what is used soda cans. The paper was then folded and unfolded 1,000 times. Afterwards, the cells performed at the same level as if nothing happened.

          Although solar paper won’t solve all of our energy problems, it seems to be a step in the right direction. Who knows, maybe in 25 or 50 years, solar paper will become a staple or trend in the future of solar power. We still have a long way to go, but just think if we could somehow harness solar energy on a single piece of paper instead of on large, bulky solar panels. It could revolutionize the green industry and make going entirely green a true possibility. What do you think?

          Here is a YouTube video demonstrating the solar paper.

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Jul 13
000

iPads Replace Paper Manuals in Airplane Cockpits

By Paige Wills in Why Choose Paper?

 
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900 at Oakland I...

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           iPads are slowly beginning to replace some aspects of paper-based communication. One area iPads have recently infiltrated is the cockpit of airplanes. According to an article in the New York Times titled “The Paperless Cockpit”by Kate Murphy, the 1.5 lb iPad is beginning to replace the 40 plus-pounds of paper reference materials airplane pilots must carry with them.

            The Federal Aviation Administration has allowed a handful of charter and commercial carriers to use the iPad as an “electronic flight-bag.”

“The iPad allows pilots to quickly and nimbly access information,” said Jim Freeman, a pilot and director of flight standards at Alaska Airlines, which has given iPads to all its pilots. “When you need to a make a decision in the cockpit, three to four minutes fumbling with paper is an eternity (“The Paperless Cockpit).”

            In the article, Jack Long, a technology entrepreneur in Austin, Texas, said he bought two iPads (one is a backup in case the other fails) to use in his plane. Long said the iPad saved him money. The iPad apps only cost him about $150 a year versus paying over $1400 for subscriptions to paper maps and charts.

          In addition to saving money, some believe the lightweight iPad will offer health benefits. In the article, David Clark, a pilot and manager of the connected aircraft program at American Airlines said the iPad is expected to reduce health care costs and absenteeism from back and shoulder injuries associated with carrying heavy flight bags.

“Alaska Airlines has already cut 25 lbs of paper from pilots flight bags and they are looking to cut an additional 5 lbs. Counting both the pilot and co-pilot, that would remove 60 pounds of paper from the cockpit — a significant savings not only in paper and printing costs but also in fuel because planes are that much lighter (“The Paperless Cockpit).”

            I agree that carrying 40 lbs of manuals and reference materials can be quite strenuous and does seem a little excessive. However, I feel it comes with the territory.

            I do believe it would be better if the amount of paper could be streamlined. However, airplanes are very complex and sometimes there just isn’t a way to streamline what needs to be said.

          I believe iPads are a great tool that should be used along with paper manuals and reference materials. My only fear is what happens if the battery dies or there is a glitch in the software? One thing paper has going for it is the battery will never die. On the other hand, in the event of a crisis, it could be a lot easier to navigate an iPad than to search for the answer in 40 lbs of paper manuals.

          Another concern is how often will the technology have to be replaced? On the other hand, technology is always changing and paper manuals would have to be updated just as regularly as the technology would. It is a lot easier to download an update than to reprint an entire manual.

          I feel paper manuals and reference material should not be eliminated entirely. Instead, it should always be available in the cockpit as a reliable backup in case something goes wrong. What do you think?

         For more information, check out the New York Times article by Kate Murphy.

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