Posted On: Saturday - November 15th 2025 8:31PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Internets University Humor Curmudgeonry Economics Big-Biz Stupidity
Continued from this post about the steep decline of printed newspapers.
Since this is a post about office paper, any video clip of any kind from The Office's Dunder Mifflin, Scranton Branch is automatically appropriate. (Peak Stupidity pastes them in even when they're not... just 'cause, funny!)
For context, this salesmen training session was conducted by manager Michael Scott because the office girl Kelly had deliberately inserted false bad customer reviews for paper salesmen Jim and Dwight because these two didn't attend her party:
For many years I really didn't think the Paperless World was ever coming. The decline in the circulation of, at least home delivery of, actual printed newspapers started in the mid-1980s and only slowly for that and the next decade. As I discuss here the type of paper used in classrooms and business offices, those ubiquitous 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of all different material, quality, weight, and colors, I'll leave aside newspapers. Additionally, I think, of the other uses of paper, actual printed books, phone books (just a one-time-yearly thing), school notebooks, receipts (if you can get 'em - gotta make an effort now), shipping wrap/cushioning, and such, most uses are fading away, as for newsprint.
The changes in the use of paper involved computers at first. In those mid-1980s, the "personal computer", what a concept!, was spreading to homes and offices everywhere. Instead of drawing on paper, you could use software to do it, and make neater lines too. Instead of a big ledger for your accounting, you could use LOTUS-123™ and have it do all the calculations. To me the biggest benefit was, instead of the typewriter, liquid and plastic-strip White Out™, and a WHOLE lot of frustration, you could use WordPerfect™ for writing, and no longer would your many corrections cause you to stress over having to plain start typing all over.
It was great. You didn't do your work on paper anymore. You didn't run out of erasers. However, someone else normally had to see your work. You couldn't just go passing the computer screen around.* In the mid-1980s, nobody but hard-core geeks were on the internet then, and God bless 'em for it! So, you still had to print everything out. We did, in spades!
After the old blue-ink mimeograph machines yielded to line printers, ink-jet printers, and the most important laser printer, MOAR STUFF was printed out by everyone. After all, the computer generated a lot more stuff TO print out. Not only that, but once printing got cheaper and more reliable with some of those washing-machine-sized Xerox's and such, well, ooops, you single-spaced that, just print it again, all 40 pages, whatever... I think the waste of 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of paper was tremendous compared to the day of the typewriter.
During this period, for 2 decades, I remember myself wondering out loud a number of times, "Hey, I thought we were going to stop using paper, what with these computers and all." That it was quite the opposite was a surprise to lots of people, I imagine. The environmentalists, never really understanding** the free market, figured we would have a big problem. Paper recycling became an industry of its own (though the stuff burns readily... just sayin'...)
In the business world, we'd have computer generated "packages" - I think that's when the word started being used as such - of 100-150 pages coming out once monthly to each of us. Paper (and ink or toner) for lab reports at school were "free" - if it was not exactly right, you fixed it and printed it all back out. Ironically, computers were very very good for the paper business.
Any questions so far? Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch Regional Manager Michael Scott answers any questions you may have at this point:
Then, though, there were not just computers, but computers connected to computers - the Internet. It took the internet to finally rid us of the use of reams and reams of paper, likely a few of them (500 sheets in a ream) per capita yearly. That took a long time too. I suppose a good marker of this change for me, not one of those "early adopters" of ANYTHING, was my final switch-over from grabbing the paper 50-100 page IRS tax booklets from the library each year to downloading them. That switch-over for me was only about 10 years ago, maybe a year shorter. Thick paper "packages" to peruse, paper forms with accompanying clipboards, etc, they're going away ... all we got left is the junk mail, and the email scammers have mostly taken that over. Oh, and we've still got toilet paper and fiat money, so there's
This leaves us to arrange our affairs on-line on the Portals. Ooops! You know, I thought the paperless world would be better. I do appreciate some the many benefits, and I just don't like wastage in general. But, web portals for this, web portals for that, getting on one portal to sign up for another portal, it's portals all the way down, and I'm not Loving it! one little bit. (A lot of the problem is that there are sign-ins, multi-factor authentication, too many passwords to keep changing - the Indian scammers have really made much on-line life miserable when it didn't have to be.- there's another post...)
I have to ask myself, how did we get here? Actually, I just explained, but this is NOT my beautiful Paperless World! What have we done?!
* Well, I mean if you had a Tandy TRash-80 "machine" and used a cassette tape recorder for storage and a 9" B&W TV set, you could... I suppose ...
** ... per Alarmist, in the comments under the previous post.
Comments:
Moderator
Sunday - November 16th 2025 6:11PM MST
PS: I think I used the Open Office "Calc" program when I did some repetitive calculations for the Kung Flu "Excess Death" posts. That's going back a ways, and I haven't needed it since... or a secretary. Got my kid to do the taxes when he was 11 y/o, but he's sworn off that now...
The Alarmist
Sunday - November 16th 2025 1:49PM MST
PS
I started with Visicalc and stepped up to Quattro Pro, managing somehow to altogether avoid Lotus1-2-3… now I’m stuck with Excel, if I need to actually do a spreadsheet.
I’m one of those dinosaurs who still has a secretary. Unlike my older, now retired mentors, I dare not call her “my girl” in this brave new world.
🕉
I started with Visicalc and stepped up to Quattro Pro, managing somehow to altogether avoid Lotus1-2-3… now I’m stuck with Excel, if I need to actually do a spreadsheet.
I’m one of those dinosaurs who still has a secretary. Unlike my older, now retired mentors, I dare not call her “my girl” in this brave new world.
🕉
SafeNow
Sunday - November 16th 2025 8:42AM MST
PS
Don’t forget the better-learning aspect. Multiple studies show that students learn better from paper than from a computer screen, especially for longer or more complex texts. Reading on paper leads to better comprehension, analysis, and retention. In addition to the “learning the substance” issue, studies show there is the crucial early-grades matter of learning how to read; which means how to think; this is a matter of nothing less than wiring the brain. The above two-part benefit been stated this way: Superior “reading to learn” and superior “learning to read.”
Don’t forget the better-learning aspect. Multiple studies show that students learn better from paper than from a computer screen, especially for longer or more complex texts. Reading on paper leads to better comprehension, analysis, and retention. In addition to the “learning the substance” issue, studies show there is the crucial early-grades matter of learning how to read; which means how to think; this is a matter of nothing less than wiring the brain. The above two-part benefit been stated this way: Superior “reading to learn” and superior “learning to read.”
Moderator
Sunday - November 16th 2025 7:44AM MST
PS: "At this point I'm really only using paper for a To Do list. It gives me a history, and I know where to look. Unfortunately there's multiple apps I could use with work, so figuring out which one I updated last is a process."
Supposedly all our apps are to synch together these days, but that entails giving them and often the Bezos Cloud ("Hey, Bezos, get offa my cloud!") all your info too.
I had conflicting Open-Office files on the vehicle maintenance info I keep. You've got to get it down to only one, but save it in various places each time.
I did do paper "To-do" lists for a few years. I keep it in my head now for less stress. This way I don't remember all the stuff I have to do, so it seems better anyway.
Supposedly all our apps are to synch together these days, but that entails giving them and often the Bezos Cloud ("Hey, Bezos, get offa my cloud!") all your info too.
I had conflicting Open-Office files on the vehicle maintenance info I keep. You've got to get it down to only one, but save it in various places each time.
I did do paper "To-do" lists for a few years. I keep it in my head now for less stress. This way I don't remember all the stuff I have to do, so it seems better anyway.
Moderator
Sunday - November 16th 2025 7:38AM MST
PS: Thank you for that personal history from the corporate world and the accounting angle, Mr. M.
Regarding the secretaries, I worked in an office job when we still had one. She was just the one for a group of a dozen guys (mostly, I think one girl), just for short reports and memos.
I can remember a couple of guys giving her shit about being 30 y/o hence too old to get married based on some recent magazine article. Yes, the HR department was a small seed of its future self at that point. However, it was basically in fun, she wasn't that hot, but she was nice enough, but more importantly, she, and everyone else, could still take a joke (or joking around) at that time.
I just went through the on-line HR BS very recently. Holy smokes!
Regarding the secretaries, I worked in an office job when we still had one. She was just the one for a group of a dozen guys (mostly, I think one girl), just for short reports and memos.
I can remember a couple of guys giving her shit about being 30 y/o hence too old to get married based on some recent magazine article. Yes, the HR department was a small seed of its future self at that point. However, it was basically in fun, she wasn't that hot, but she was nice enough, but more importantly, she, and everyone else, could still take a joke (or joking around) at that time.
I just went through the on-line HR BS very recently. Holy smokes!
M
Sunday - November 16th 2025 6:38AM MST
PS
The accountants loved Lotus because it took over from the *paper* spreadsheet. Which was a really big piece of paper for things like budgets.
Every fight over how much money to allocate to each cost centre made changes to that piece of paper necessary. Plus changing all the sums involved. If your erasing ended up tearing the paper, well you had to get a new one and copy everything over...
But the accountants got the PC initially. The people who were responsible for those cost centers didn't have them. So printouts were still needed for them to look at. The advantage there was they could use their own paper instead of having to look at the one on the wall. Meaning more paper over all.
Even networking the machines didn't initially change that, since the machine went on the secretary's desk instead of the boss's. She (yes it was almost always a woman at this point), would print them out.
The move away from paper required the boss to get a PC, the secretary (in most cases) to be removed, and the boss to be required to get comfortable enough with the machine to use it. Getting screens large enough and with a high enough resolution for older people to be able to use them for hours also helped.
At this point I'm really only using paper for a To Do list. It gives me a history, and I know where to look. Unfortunately there's multiple apps I could use with work, so figuring out which one I updated last is a process.
The accountants loved Lotus because it took over from the *paper* spreadsheet. Which was a really big piece of paper for things like budgets.
Every fight over how much money to allocate to each cost centre made changes to that piece of paper necessary. Plus changing all the sums involved. If your erasing ended up tearing the paper, well you had to get a new one and copy everything over...
But the accountants got the PC initially. The people who were responsible for those cost centers didn't have them. So printouts were still needed for them to look at. The advantage there was they could use their own paper instead of having to look at the one on the wall. Meaning more paper over all.
Even networking the machines didn't initially change that, since the machine went on the secretary's desk instead of the boss's. She (yes it was almost always a woman at this point), would print them out.
The move away from paper required the boss to get a PC, the secretary (in most cases) to be removed, and the boss to be required to get comfortable enough with the machine to use it. Getting screens large enough and with a high enough resolution for older people to be able to use them for hours also helped.
At this point I'm really only using paper for a To Do list. It gives me a history, and I know where to look. Unfortunately there's multiple apps I could use with work, so figuring out which one I updated last is a process.