How were big company bills processed before computers?

[tofergregg]

I handle all of my monthly bills (cable/internet, electricity, gas, etc.) online, and I choose electronic delivery of bills if the option exists. I can view my bills instantly as a PDFs, and everything (including credit card or bank payment) is handled without a company employee ever even seeing my bill (I assume). Having everything completely online is relatively new, but the first time I ever had bills of my own to pay was in the early '90s, and by that point all the bills I got were computer generated, albeit on paper.

I’m curious about how bills were prepared before computers took over. In the 1950s (say) did a Ma Bell employee hand-type a bill for every customer? When did handwritten bills become superseded by typewritten ones? I assume the 70s saw the advent of computerized bills, but maybe it was earlier?

Thanks!

-Tofer

[WhyNot]

Yes! My grandmother worked for Bell when she was a young newlywed with no children. There were (she says) a long row of files of index cards, like the card catalog in the library. Each one was for a single customer. She would, by hand, open the envelope, count the money and mark off the customer’s debits and credits on their file. Someone else (many people, actually) was responsible for typing and sending the bills based on the reports that the meter reader submitted each day from actually going out to each meter and reading it, of course checking that same card to see if the person had paid their bill the previous month.

[Yeah]

@WhyNot

Yes! My grandmother worked for Bell when she was a young newlywed with no children. There were (she says) a long row of files of index cards, like the card catalog in the library. Each one was for a single customer. She would, by hand, open the envelope, count the money and mark off the customer’s debits and credits on their file. Someone else (many people, actually) was responsible for typing and sending the bills based on the reports that the meter reader submitted each day from actually going out to each meter and reading it, of course checking that same card to see if the person had paid their bill the previous month.

That must have been VERY long ago. The immediate predecessors of the computers now used for billing were the punched card data processing machines made by IBM. Using 80 column punched cards and a suite of machines (sorters, interpreters, keypunches, verifiers, and accounting machines) plus a little ingenuity, you could efficiently handle billing for tens of thousands of customers.

[WhyNot]

@Yeah

That must have been VERY long ago. The immediate predecessors of the computers now used for billing were the punched card data processing machines made by IBM. Using 80 column punched cards and a suite of machines (sorters, interpreters, keypunches, verifiers, and accounting machines) plus a little ingenuity, you could efficiently handle billing for tens of thousands of customers.

She just turned 80, and it was when she was in her late teens, so about 60 years ago. Punchcards existed, but weren’t used, at least not in her office. I’m sure they were used elsewhere.

(She has the teeniest tinyest neatest handwriting I’ve ever seen as a result!)