So, I'm back in school for the year. RIT has recently started this campaign of putting everything online. Which is good -- now you can go look at your bill, and housing information, along with the usual schedule, grades, etc. anytime you like. The consequence of this. however, is that RIT has decided not to mail any of these things anymore. Which sucks. Now I'm a Computer Scientist (that's the correct term to -- expect to see business cards soon: Alex Rock - Computer Scientist) -- the Internet is my domain. However, while I think it's great to have the ability to get anything online, I don't think that means it should be a replacement for good old fashioned paper. I mean, which is easier to ignore, a letter that says "final notice" or an email? In my case (and I'm sure the case for many others) it's the email. With the paper, it's right there, staring you in the face (especially if it has eyes). You have to actively do something to get rid of it, like burn it, or launch it out of a cannon. An email, on the other hand, is easily hidden, or even deleted -- gone forever to the big bit bucket in the sky -- with the mere push of a button, or click of a mouse (which is also a button, but never you mind). That's dangerous, because now you can have bills and such past due, and never know about it, if you don't remember to check it. A bill is automatic -- it arrives in the mail, and you know. Now, why would RIT not send a letter, you may ask? I say because they're cheap bastards.
Here's a quick calculation of the amounts they save by not mailing the bills anymore. RIT has something like 15,000 students. Stamps cost $0.37 each (even though RIT wouldn't pay that much, because they'd have a bulk account, and pay by pure weight, which would be less money, since the $0.37 covers up to an ounce, which is six sheets of paper -- but lets assume $0.37 for the sake of argument), envelopes cost about $0.04 each (for the high grade type), and paper costs $0.005 each. Now, each bill is usually two pages. They're probably printed with laser printers, which cost about $0.02 per page. The printing system is automated, and I'm sure even putting the bills into the envelopes is automated as well. A Xerox Document Centreâ„¢ 470 ST uses 1425 watts while running, and can print 65 ppm. Lets assume that RIT uses something a bit larger and faster, at 2500 watts and 150 ppm. At 15,000 students, with two pages each, it'd take 200 minutes to print all of the bills, a bit over three hours. Electricity in Rochester costs something like $0.045 per kwh. That makes for $375 in electricity to print, and $6900 in consumables (paper, stamps, etc). Lets say it takes a staff of 10 a week to get everything out, and they get paid $12 per hour. That comes to $4800. All together it costs about $12,075 to mail the bills for one quarter. That's not even a (full time) year's tuition! ($22,500). Which amounts to just about nothing percentage wise of total income. Which is why I think it's bullshit that they can't just mail the damned things. Anyhow, there's my rant for the month (or less -- probably more).
Anyhow, here's a joke:
What's green, fuzzy, and if it fell out of a tree would kill you?
A pool table.
