Columbia is considered a tree hugging town by many people. We have many parks, increasing restrictions on development and preservation, and trees lining downtown. Heck, the city even wanted to put grass on the roof.
We also know the financial woes the city is under. Tax revenues are down and the city is looking to save money wherever possible. I don’t need to elaborate on this.
Given this information, could someone please explain this to me:
This is a stack of bills that Richland Heights Mobile Home Community gets every month. Utilities are included in the rent so all the bills are sent to the landlord. Every single home in the park is on a meter and there is a bill printed for each one. The name on every single bill is exactly the same and has the exact same mailing address. The owners have requested several times to have the bill consolidated. They are told it is not possible because of the system. That sounds pretty official, in fact it’s a favorite sang umong city departments. Well guess what, the system is broke. It costs too much to fix the system you say? It will take millions of years for anyone downtown to even agree on a new system let alone the eons it will take to implement it. After we’ve opened it for bid, nixed any local options, then choose the coolest kid that applies from afar it will be time to fix again. Yeah, maybe we should just leave it as is. But wait there’s more!
This is the amount of paperwork that is included in each and every bill in that stack. It includes the bill, an envelope, and a two page city news letter. RHMHC gets well over 100 bills, but lets assume for simplicity that it’s an even 100. Given 100 bills that is 300 pieces of paper and 200 envelopes per month (the one it comes in and the one to return). That totals 3,600 pieces of paper and 2,400 envelopes mailed to and trashed by RHMHC every year (and don’t forget this is actually less than the total they recieve). Park management doesn’t even use the return envelopes. Why would they waste that much money? Instead of mailing the manager has to take the entire stack of bills downtown with a check from the park. The clerk must then go through each and every bill, add it up, mark each as paid individually, and confirm the check equals the total amount.
Here’s a solution I thought of while I was sleeping: create one bill for anyone on multiple accounts and itemize each address. I must give credit for trying. There is a paperless option of billing that can cut down on the paperwork, but how realistic is it for a business to pay over 100 utility bills online individually each month? In the current system they add up the costs, drop everything off, and get called if there’s any problem. If they could somehow find a way to consolidate a customers bills the paperless billing system would be perfect for businesses. It would save them time and money which means they can do more work and raise more revenue. The city doesn’t have to mail tons of envelopes or pay someone to go through all the bills when they come in. Everyone wins.
To wrap up hears a little more salt to throw on the wound that was once our proud earth friendly city. The Columbia Public Schools “going green” section states:
Columbia Public Schools is concerned about its impact on the environment. The district is using a number of strategies to help educate and reduce its carbon footprint.
I am very proud of the school system taking initiative to teach our youth sustainability. However, I think they should seriously consider who they partener with and what the students can learn from those partners. If you scroll half-way down the page there is a section that says “Partners in Education” and states:
The school district and its respective schools and programs have partnerships that promote education and activities related specifically to the environment and healthy living.
Right there in the list of partners is “Columbia Water and Light”.
Like I said, they do have the paperless option which is great for many people and businesses, but why stop there? My grandfather had a saying “The worst thing you can put on a mans tombstone is: He meant well”. Intentions are great, but what are they without initiative? Lets save the trees and greenbacks and see if we can figure out a way to get multiple bills to a single customer in an efficient earth friendly manner. Who could do this? We have a position for a sustainability manager but the city can’t seem to agree on a job description (that’s a whole other mess for a whole other blog post). I have a description: reduce the massive pile of city paper waste.
Tags: green, mail, paper, postage, sustainable, tree hugger, utility billCategories: Economy, Local Issues.
I am the accountant for a large company in CoMo and I could not agree with you more! I think it every single month when I open the City’s envleopes. One think you didn’t mention is how much postage this takes as well! A fair amount of our billing is paperless now, so even if we don’t pay online we can retrieve the billing that way! Such a great point to make. Thank you!