Tuesday 21 December 2010

Private and Confidential. I don't think so

A few minutes ago a large envelope dropped through the letter box addressed to me. It had the words Private and Confidential printed on the front so the contents were for my eyes only. But if you look at the photo you can see that the nature of the contents was clear to anyone seeing the envelope. What if I had never told my partner I was getting a Stagecoach Pension? He'd know now.

The envelope didn't actually contain anything personal to me, just general information the Pension Trustees have to send out every year. It's printed on shinny, very high quality paper and mostly consist of stuff I have no interest in reading other than the bit that said Stagecoach Pensions weren't going bust and my pension will continue to be paid. It will end up in the recycle bin just, as I suspect 99% of all the other copies sent out to my fellow receivers of a Stagecoach Pension (and many other pensions run by other companies). I don't know how much this cost to send and what it's carbon footprint is but I have a feeling it could be sent by email much cheaper with almost no carbon footprint at all. Give the matter some though pension companies and help save the planet.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

All Pension providers, including Stagecoach, have by law, to provide each contributer and drawee, a written statement of the state of the fund on a yearly basis. Details provded have to meet certain standards governed by the Pensions Authority. Some providers will, by request, send by e:mail, so you would need to read the statement sent to you, there again it provides work for Royal Mail.
The reason is due to a few scandals with firms the Daily Mirror springs to mind.

David said...

I understand that Stagecoach have to write to me every year as you say. It just seems such a waste to spend so much money presenting it to me as they do when it could be emailed like my gas, electric, TV, Broadband, and Phone bills are.

Anonymous said...

You will have to ask for it to be e:mailed, some firms wont stating: 'it is not secure'!