#36 Please consider the environment before printing this email.
Apr 10th, 2009 by pfi
Accountants have horrible e-mail signatures. Not that anyone has a good e-mail signature to begin with.
Accountants like to add “Please consider the environment before printing this email” to the end of their message as part of their signature. It’s often embellished with webdings and colored green to bring attention to the message.
While good intentioned, it doesn’t add any value – this sums up most accountants. Consider that the extra line generated from the message can cause a page break and print an extra sheet.
Or consider that nobody pays attention to it. It’s often buried below the sender’s contact information and above the “This message is confidential…” obligatory legal disclosure.
As mentioned before, accountants could never go paperless. An accountant’s need to get something done overrides any want to save trees from getting cut down. Once an accountant finds an e-mail they need, it’s as good as CTRL+P before they see “Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.”
While conserving resources is a noble goal, accountants are usually more interested in appearing to be green than being green.
If you see “Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail,” you can praise an accountant for doing their part to help the environment. Whatever you do, do not ask them about real ways to help the environment, such as turning off lights not in use or not using styrofoam coffee cups. Because these are things that they cannot give up.
The tricky part is when you work for a paper products client and a recycling client. I took the route of adding Paul Bunyan to one email signature, and the green tree to another. I am sure one day the wrong signature will go to the wrong client, but until that day comes – SUPERSTAR!
This must be something that Big Four accountants like.
hahaha this really made me laugh because it is meeee! btw, right I can not give up styrofoam water cup 🙂 I replaced my coffee cup still struggling with water one :))
I do really well outside of work when it comes to recycling. I recycle all plastic bottles, aluminum, glass and paper at home. However, at work it is sometimes difficult to get the job done correctly while still being “green”. How many times do you print off a 30+ page report just to find out later that you don’t need it, or you only need one page from it, or in addition to that you need another 30+ page report? Or, when you have a tie out to do on a 400 page report? If the client would send electronic and manipulatable reports accountants could be more “green”. It is far easier (and more “green”) to do a tie-out or re-calc in excel than hard copy.
my firm has set all the printers in the office to print double sided to be more green
Check out the Tax Men!
Tax Men – Tax Dat Ass from Tax Men on Vimeo.
Double sided print wastes even more paper when you realize that 100 page report you just printed has to be single sided because the partner doesn’t like double sided reports.
Am I right in thinking that this is part of ISO14000 ? I saw thinkbeforeprinting.org which has a ZIP file with several handy image version of this, but can’t find out if it’s part of the ISO (i.e. actually required). Does anyone know?
Thanks for posting about this, I would like to read more about this topic.
Haha! So true!
Everytime print put working papers, sure got papers wasted be it mistakes or papers gone missing due to printer sharing. Unnecessary indexes too, cardboard quality we’re talking about.
How can I use this #36 at the end of my e-mail? copying? or how?
d-seven Brilliant! I bought your cosrue (and LOVE IT) and these little tips-and-tricks in your blog just continue to add to the value that we received. Two thumbs up on the reflection steps.
Hello guys
Greeting !
i’m working at one of private university, i’m planing to put a”Stickers” on all our printers.
would you please advise a simple logo with perfect word.
cheers!