One of my favorite historical figures, Benjamin Franklin, once said: “Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” He was right. Almost…
Franklin was also a master printer and had the noble goal of using his printing press “to help people understand the world around them (http://www.fi.edu/franklin/printer/printer.html, 5/18/11)”. In addition, throughout his life, “Franklin wrote and received thousands of pieces of correspondence” and “worked to improve the U.S. Postal system” (http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_world_letters.html, 5/18/11). The problem is that today I think most of us reach that number in only a few months…
Fast forward to the 21st century when printing is digital, databases of addresses exist that can print instantly and send mail through cyberspace or “snail” mail-in record volumes and I tell you the new definition of certainty can be expanded to:
Certainty…Mail – as it contributes to paperwork; taxes – as they contribute to paperwork; death – as it contributes to paperwork. In short, what is certain for you or some member of your family is PAPERWORK!!
I am drowning in papers and paperwork…am I alone? The truth is I feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paperwork I receive and have to process regularly just to make life run…and not always smoothly.
Between children paperwork – school, activities, now add auto and finance; my dad’s paperwork – bills, information on his pension, medical benefits, finances; my family paperwork – medical/dental, household, financial, and so on, I’m frequently overwhelmed. Add work to this and you have massive paperwork burnout and overload…And it has consequences.
Take yesterday for example when I had to drive an hour each way to pay a $10 late fee on something I thought was paid in full ( a tax bill on my automobile in the town I lived in briefly 1 ½ years ago – Kudos to Ben’s definition…). Technology being what it is in my state, it (the late fee) could not be processed online or over the phone (and yet it was in the state system that I still owed it…). I had to hand-deliver the payment, get a handwritten receipt, drive back an hour and use this receipt to finish my transaction (registering another car) where I now live. My guess is some “bill” was sent out to my old address and forwarded to my new address telling me about the $10 but I don’t recall seeing it; nor do I know why I had the “late” fee in the first place…but that is another story. Given the volume of this type of mail, I receive all the time I’m not surprised when things fall through the cracks. The problem is it cost me $20 in gas to pay a $10 late fee (aahhh!!). What is even more frustrating, however, are things that fall through the cracks when I thought I handled them FOR GOOD…
For example, last week I received a great offer to renew a magazine subscription that expired 2 years ago. The problem with this was that the reason it expired was that it was in my mother’s subscription and she passed away 2 ½ years ago. I notified the magazine company because she had it (the magazine subscription) on “automatic” renewal. But, 2 ½ years later they are now sending information to her at my address. Apparently, when I notified them through written communication they did cancel the subscription but also kept her name active and put in my address – NO, I did not send a “change of address”. I wrote clearly that she was “deceased”!!! (Perhaps I should have defined the term, perhaps they need to visit Ben’s definition that death is certain and I’ll explain to them that when it happens you are not in a position to receive mail anymore…DUH!) And they are not the only ones. The fact is that I have called, written, done everything but gone on a mission to visit in person every place my mother did business with to inform them of her passing, and still, 2 ½ years later, she is getting mail to renew memberships, buy things, or send donations. I have officially given up and simply toss said unwanted items out.
This seems to be the best solution (short of moving again with no forwarding address…) because today’s lifestyle is hectic enough without wasting too much time on paperwork. As Mr. Franklin also said:
“Lost time is never found again.” (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_time.html#ixzz1MiSybBN6, 5/18/11).
I put most of my paperwork in the “lost time” category and wonder when it will end (because apparently, even death doesn’t do it anymore, it just shifts it to someone else…).