Going Paperless

This morning I read in the Globe about a service called Pixily - and it's an interesting concept. Pixily is a service that scans and uploads your papers to a private website, allowing you to access your documents online. Using a Netflix-style service, Pixily provides envelopes and you pay a monthly subscription fee to mail in documents. They are then scanned, uploaded, and either mailed back to you or shredded. Once uploaded, you can add tags and search words to make finding your documents easy.

It's really an interesting idea; but the paranoid side of me worries about identity theft. It seems like there is just too much room for private information to escape during the process of mailing documents in, scanning them, and then shredding or return. That said, Pixily indicates on their website that the only time documents are seen by human eyes is during the scanning process; all employees go through an extensive background check; and no recording devices (including pencils) are allowed in their operations center.

It might be worth testing out for some non-sensitive material (receipts or utility bills).

There are other easy ways to go paperless, too:
- Get bank statements emailed in PDF form on a monthly basis
- Ask for electronic credit card, utility, phone bills
- Pay your bills with online banking
- Cut down on the amount of junk mail you get by registering with The Direct Marketing Association
- Opt out of unwanted catalogs at Catalog Choice