IN THE cyberspace age, it is absurd and environmentally wasteful for telephone companies to give customers such detailed billing statements that they arrive in thickly packed envelopes or boxes.
Consumers expect lots of paper when they purchase a car or home. But nowadays, they often leave those transactions with less paper than the bills they get every month for their high-tech cell phones. It's time for streamlining and conservation.
It is a wonder that environmentalists haven't howled about the trees that are dying so that phone companies can produce these hugely wasteful paper bills. AT&T insists it doesn't want to presume clients don't want details. If customers ask for summary bills, they are happy to oblige. Actually, you'd think it should be the other way around. Everyone should get the summary bill, and if they want the long form they can ask the company to provide them a hard copy through the mail or via the Internet.
Meanwhile, a whole lot of paper is being wasted.
When Pittsburgh graphic designer Justine Ezarik got the first bill for her new Apple iPhone, it came in a box because there were so many pages. Oak Harbor, Ohio, teacher Kelly Croy described her 52-page, double-sided bill as the biggest she has ever received.
AT&T insists those are exceptions. "We're not sending lots of boxed bills to customers," said spokesman Mark Siegel. That may be, but even one such unrequested bill is excessive. Other cell-phone providers are not without blame; some have also socked their customers with pages and pages of bills.
You'd expect high-tech telephone service providers to be more business-savvy. It really is pretty silly to detail a consumer's every text message. This is, as one independent information-technology analyst put it, "stupid." Nobody expects all that detail about their calls. And, besides, many cell-phone users are undoubtedly well versed in how to use the Internet.
If they want detailed versions of their phone bills, they should get them online.
First Published August 23, 2007, 10:34 a.m.
