What's In It For Me?

Most every financial company wants me to switch to "e-delivery" these days.   Actually the campaign to wean me from paper statements has been going on for some time, but I've mostly ignored it.   

When banks and such started making it possible to download statements, I began doing so, mostly because it's a lot easier to store and find PDF files than paper ones.   At least for me, I can locate a particular document much more easily if it's on my computer than if it's in a file cabinet someplace in the house.   And of course, it takes next to no space to save PDF files vs. paper.  However, I still find it easier to peruse a paper statement to see if anything unusual appears.  

Now banks and stock shareholder agents (e.g., Computershare.com) are getting more forceful in their efforts; more and more I'm finding I no longer have access to the downloadable statements unless I agree to forgo the paper version.

What really frosts me, are the reasons they give to convince me to "go green."   Do you see what is missing from this example?  These are largely bogus reasons:  I can retrieve documents 24/7 from these company websites, I don't have to print anything when they send me paper documents, and I can already save documents to my computer if they allow me to download them.  Nothing is said about the benefits to the company: they save postage involved in mailing statements to me and they save the cost of paper.  These are significant economic reasons for the company to want me to switch, much greater than the lame benefits to me if I "Sign up for eDelivery."  

How about if they give me a nominal fee, like $5 per quarter to forgo the paper statements?   Fat chance.  Another example of big business thinking we're all idiots.