We report this week on tactics being taken by T-Mobile to get customers used to the idea of paperless billing.

In the past, T-Mobile just offered online billing without any kind of penalty if customers opted to use snail mail. But in August, T-Mobile decided enough was enough. It began charging customers $1.50 a month for using paper bills. And that was enough to get thousands of customers to make the switch.

Using online payment systems is a no-brainer. It can save a company tens of thousands of dollars a year, money that could be passed along to the customer or help fatten the bottom line. And of course, online payments save paper and trees, and presumably the environment.

Paying a bill through the Internet has a lot of advantages. The bill is always available online, and customers do not have to mail a payment and hope it arrives on time. Consumers can also pay bills instantly and see the payments credited right away. No paper is necessary and the payments are secured.

T-Mobile is part of a larger trend, even if its tactics are a bit unusual.

American Express, among other credit card companies, has been pushing online payments and an environmental message. It has told its cardholders that if all U.S. households with an American Express Card switched to electronic statements, it would save 140,000,000 pounds of paper every year.

Fiserv, Inc., a provider of technology solutions, said last month that a consumer survey it sponsored found that 69.7 million households--representing four out of five households with Internet access--now use online banking services primarily to access balance and account history and transfer money between accounts.
 
In addition, the survey found that 64.4 million households pay at least one bill online, either at a bank website or directly at a company website. Many companies are also moving to direct deposit instead of a paper checks. Just this month, Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the United States, decided to go paperless when paying employees. It is switching to direct deposit and debit cards. For employees who refuse direct deposit, their pay will be offered in the form of a debit card.

Wal-Mart says the move will save 257,572 pounds of paper per year as well as an unspecified amount of money. Currently, Wal-Mart has 1.4 million employees, and half of them receive paper checks

The world is clearly headed in the direction of the paperless office. It is only a matter of time before more companies and more consumers adopt this way of doing business. - Judi