The Social Security Administration has also eliminated the mailing of annual earnings statements, which offered all workers ages 25-60 a chance to double-check the government’s math and plan for retirement. Nearly 90 percent of respondents said the government’s shift to paperless services disadvantages elderly, disabled, low-income and poorly educated Americans. The group — which bills itself as “a coalition of individuals and organizations advocating for access to paper-based services and information” — was set up by the Envelope Manufacturers Association (EMA), officials from both organizations said. Late last year, Consumers for Paper Options scored another victory when Rep. Michael H. Michaud (D-Maine), working with the American Forest and Paper Association, used his influence to have language removed from a pharmaceutical bill that would have ended the practice of printing prescription information and inserting it into drug packages, instead requiring that it be posted online. His argument about the dangers of the “rush to go paperless” was highlighted in a December op-ed article in Roll Call signed by Michaud and Rep. Sean P. Duffy (R-Wis.), which said the shift was “disenfranchising millions of seniors and other vulnerable Americans and making the digital divide even deeper.” Consumers for Paper Options helped craft the piece and got it placed in Roll Call, according to officials familiar with the article. The group has conducted several studies of consumer preferences, Runyan said, including a poll last year that reportedly found that 73 percent of American adults do not think they should be required to interact with the government online. The government, for instance, was looking to make use of direct deposit or prepaid debit cards for monthly checks for veterans, federal retirees, disabled Americans and 66 million retirees on Social Security. Others have concerns about privacy and growing cybersecurity threats.
– In 2011, the Social Security Administration put the kibosh on mailing paper statements to 150 million future retirees, at an annual cost savings of $72 million. But last month's budget contained language that forces the government to plan for restarting these paper mailings. Ridiculous? Not according to a group called Consumers for Paper Options, which lobbied for that change and has since 2010 been "advocating for access to paper-based services and information," as the group puts it. But though the group says it's a "coalition of individuals and organizations," it's actually a product of the paper industry, the Washington Post reports: It was established by the Envelope Manufacturers Association and gets funding from the top paper-industry trade group. The Treasury expects to save $1 billion over a decade following its 2013 move to largely paperless communications, noting that processing a paper check costs $1.25, which is $1.16 cents more than the cost of an electronic payment. (It hasn't stopped paper mailings to the elderly and people with "mental impairments," the Post notes.) But "if there are Americans who can't use an iPhone to navigate the Internet, there ought to be an option for them," says a rep for Consumers for Paper Options, noting that a quarter of the US lacks Internet access. He also cites a study that says 73% of adults don't believe they should have to deal with the government online. That study was run by the group. A recent op-ed in Roll Call signed by a pair of congressmen also pushed for paper; it turns out Consumers for Paper Options was involved in that piece, too. Who are the "consumers"? "Everybody’s mother and father and sister who care about the way government policy develops," says an industry leader.