Recently my banks have been on a huge push to get me to subscribe to electronic statements (e-statements) for both my bank statements and credit card bills. The reasons for this are plenty, let alone the environmental aspects it’s costing them at least 52c in postage, likely 10c for an envelope and at least 5c per page to print it (including labour etc)

Factor that with 12 months a year and it’s $8.04 just to mail me a statement for just one account. When one factors in the millions of customers the banks and credit card companies have, it adds up to some serious cash.

Online statements are great in theory, the bill arrives instantly, no chance for it to get lost in the postal system (as too much of my mail has been lately) and lower chances of identity theft. So, why can’t I use it.

Our friends at the CRA (the tax department) require us to keep records for 7 years for anything related to tax purposes. As I (like most people) have some deductible expenses which are proven via bank transactions a statement proving it happened is necessary for 7 years. Some banks (and credit card companies) only store 180 days of online information, half a year and far less than what is actually necessary. Sure, I could print out the statements each month but I would have to remember to do it and I’m not saving anything - it just moves the printing costs directly to my shoulder.

The solution, Canada Post’s e-post an online mailbox for people with important information (bills, tax slips etc) to store your information for the 7 years necessary for legal purposes. I can already get my cell phone bill there (and it stores all of the call history too, so I could see who I talked to 7 years ago) but for some reason my MasterCard (from a large Canadian bank) only provides me with “Minimum Payment, New Balance” and “Due Date” - no transactional history in the e-post copy and their website version only stores a pathetic 3 months worth of data.

Storage is becoming dirt cheap, if you want me to switch to online banking give me the CRA required 7 years history with full transactional history and I’ll switch in a heartbeat.

The ball’s in your court banks and billers. Provide the information you provide in the paper copy to e-post, store it for 7 years and you’ll see people switch in meaningful numbers.

I have been reading The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security - it is an excellent book which focuses on the weakest link in electronic security - the humans who run the machines. As a result, it has made me see routine interactions in a different light.

As such, I was quite shocked when I checked into a downtown San Diego hotel (from a pretty major chain) and my keycard did not work the next morning when I returned to the room after breakfast.

I went down to the front desk, to an employee who I had not seen before I presented my (generic hotel brand) key and said my door didn’t work. They asked for my room number and proceeded to re-program the key to the room number I had just told them and hand it back to me. I was not asked for identification or any sort of proof that the room was mine or that I had given the correct room number.

Just how hard would it be to present a room key and gain access to any room in the hotel by going to the front desk and saying the key didn’t work. Hotel keycards are pretty common - with the major chains there are literally thousands of identical looking cards sitting around.

3 easy steps to correct the problem:

1. Ask for identification (you need it to check in anyways)
2. Verify the room number is the one you had registered
3. Re-program the key and re-issue

Actual time involved to verify someone’s identity - 3 minutes at most. Knowing that your room is secure from a basic social hack, priceless.