for those who know about my decision to uproot my mailbox and are curious as to how thats working out for me... i actually received my first email about it the other day:

XXXXXXX XXXXXX wrote:
> Mr. Bolin

> We appreciate your water bills being paid in a timely manner each month.
> For almost a year we have been sending the water bills for XXXX XXXXXXX
> XX, XXXXX, TX to this service address, and they have been returned by
> the Post Office noted ‘MOVED LEFT NO ADDRESS”. Is there a different
> mailing address the bills can be sent to, or someone else’s name we
> could use as “in care of”?

sorry for the delay in replying, all my "bills" emails get auto-sorted, and i only go through them once a quarter or so for filing...

anyway, i still live here, i just no longer accept (or want) postal mail at this address. im pretty much paperless, i guess you could say. i simply check the online site to get my current bill, and pay it.

is it that important that you send a paper bill? every other bill i have and financial institution i use has switched to paperless billing and statements. after receiving roughly 70 lbs of junk mail a month, over 4 cubic feet compressed of paper garbage, i realized it was out of hand. i receive, on average, only two pieces of postal mail A YEAR that actually want, containing information i am unable to retrieve through other means.

additionally, mail of all types was regularly either misdelivered to my neighbors, or stolen from my box.

so... i opted out of the postal service. sounds crazy, i know. but i figure, hey, its a new millenium, the information age and all that jazz. in 10 years or less, i doubt much if any meaningful business will be conducted through postal mail.

instead of thinking of it as crazy, i like to think im just... ahead of the curve, as it were :) this is actually the first time in over a year that the issue of not receiving postal mail has come up (beyond just a topic of conversation)... but i cant wait until i have to try and renew my drivers license in a few years. yeah, thats gonna be interesting, im sure...

i assume there wont be an issue (interruption of service or what have you) as long as the bills continue to be paid?