Something that I’ve been aware of for some time is that it seems that almost nobody uses window envelopes, except billing departments. I swear, if somebody were to want to steal mail just for the checks, all they’d have to bother looking for are window envelopes going to businesses. Why it is that billing departments are about the only ones using window envelopes is a mystery. After all, most businesses use dedicated return envelopes anyway, so what’s with the window envelopes? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just print your return address on your already dedicated envelope? Why go to that extra expense? Isn’t anyone in your company minding the bottom line?
Worse, the stupid billing departments print their return address on the FRONT of the bill. NObody but nobody loads an envelope from the FRONT side. It’s SOP to turn the envelope over so the flap is in front of you, open the flap, insert the items to be mailed, then seal the flap. So in completing the bill, one has the bill face up. But the return address is on the WRONG side for loading the envelope normally. :smack: So why are they forcing you to (additional step) TURN the bill over, just so their return address “shows through the window.” STUPID, stupid, stupid. A totally unnecessary waste of my effort, when it would be nothing for them to print their return address on the BACK side of the bill, where it would then show up automatically. This is not rocket science, people.
My insurance company seem to have the only billing department with an intelligent life form in that department, as they print their return address on the back side of the bill. But all the other bills I get all have made the same above listed stupid error. My only question is WHY? If they’re that stupid, why would anybody allow them to be in charge of handling their money?:eek:
There’s no mystery about window envelopes. They are used when it makes economic sense. Company XYZ might have 2 millions billable customers. They might use 8 different processing centers in 8 different states. Economy of scale allows them to buy 2 million (or 20 million) identical envelopes, which can then be merged with generated invoices that have different return information. Believe me, at that level someone IS minding the bottom line. Printing, paper, and converting are tight and competitive businesses.
I can’t address your question about what side of the bill is “up”. I’ve never noticed that to be an issue, and luddite that I am, still mail a check or two every month.
The reason they don’t use windowed envelopes for everything is that windowed envelopes cost more (as you noted).
The reason that they use windowed envelopes for bills is that it forces you to include the piece of paper that has your name and account number on it, which speeds up their bill processing. The time that they save by not having to look up and verify your account number justifies the extra expense of the envelopes and saves them money in the long run.
By forcing you to include that little slip of paper, they can run that piece of paper through a scanner and get all of your billing info, then run the check through a scanner and maybe type in the amount on the check. Total bill processing is done in a matter of seconds. It would take easily 5 to 10 times longer if they have to stop and type in your name and look up your account in their computer.
What’s cheaper, paying 5 to 10 times as many people to do your account processing, or paying a few cents extra per envelope?
Also, since they’ve wrangled you into using the preprinted address by giving you a window envelope, they’ve also helped ensure that their mail doesn’t get lost because of a writing error, either transcription or sloppy writing. It’s still a cost-effective win for them.
Another advantage of the windowed envelopes is that it forces everyone to put the payment slip in facing the same way. This reduces the handling needed in the processing center.
ProTip: To reduce the chances of having your payment screwed up during processing, put the check in facing the same way as the payment slip.
How effective is stealing checks? The TO: block has some company’s name on it, and just about everywhere the thief might cash it will have a bunch of cameras. They get your account number but that’s not exactly some great secret anyway. What am I missing?
While CAMPP has a reasonably logical answer to why a window envelope, it still doesn’t totally answer why. If they have several processing centers, what would be the cost difference in printing each designated processing center’s appropriate address on the dedicated envelope, as opposed to using a window envelope? I think we’d just have to see their economic breakdown to prove which is actually more economical.
As to the address placement on the bill, I still stand by my original conclusion. Even if they want the bill to be placed in the envelope the same way, what’s the difference whether that way is facing the front of the envelope or the back? If all the bills have the return address on the back, then all the bills would still be facing the same way. Am I making sense here? My point is that people usually have the bill facing themselves when they load the envelope, hence it is the natural way to have the face of the bill be facing the rear of the envelope, where the flap is, and NOT the front of the envelope. And one’s check would also go in the same way. So like I said, I have to stand by my original conclusion, that by not putting the return address on the back of the bill the billing department is illogical.
And pertaining to my offhanded comment about stealing mail, I should have noted (but didn’t because it’s really a minor, off-topic subject) that I once knew a postal employee who actually DID get arrested for stealing mail. Exactly what he was doing, I never heard. But then too, add that to an incident that happen with me where I accidentally got two checks for similar amounts crossed while making out bills. The check that was for under the billed amount got returned to me (apparently that was what caught their attention). But the check that was for over the amount of the bill was actually cashed! Totally different “pay to the order of” name on the check, but the bank STILL cashed it. So who it’s made out to is really irrelevant. If the bank is handed a stack of checks, they cash them for the submitting party, no questions asked. So maybe that is the way that person was able to cash those stolen-mail checks, you think?
BTW, maybe ENGINEER COMP GEEK does have a point about ensuring the return of the billing slip. Maybe that priority cancels out any savings that would be realized by not using window envelopes. Maybe that is why they use them, but still it leaves my other question unanswered (see my above reply).
Back in the Dayes of Yore (1960s), bills were a bit different. All the possible boilerplate on the form was printed like a book is printed: at a printing factory using printing presses. Where each one is identical, they’re ordered months in advance in quantities of thousands or millions depending on the scale of the business, and printing on two sides costs about 180% of what printing on one side costs.
And the machines which added the individual billing information onto those pre-made forms was only capable of adding information on one side. And only in one fairly large font. And only very slowly, so there was an incentive to maximize the amount of info pre-printed onto the form and minimize the amount added later during individualization.
In that environment, having the form be one-sided with a pre-printed destination address makes 100% sense.
Why is it still the same way today, when except for the four-color logo, almost all of the content of both sides of the form is applied all at once using laser-printer technology? Inertia.