July 15, 2005
X marks the spot you're not supposed to mark
Someone asked to see the actual deposit envelope mentioned below, so they could judge the graphic design for themselves. As a fellow lover of geeking out on graphic design, I am only too happy to oblige.
You know something? I'm not sure that note and X are meant for you, the consumer -- I think they're meant for the poor humans working for $7/hour processing these things. Sure, you benefit by saving a little time not filling out the form, but the bank has figured out a way in which they can save money by processing deposits without entering the data on the back. They just need to remind the behind-the-scenes assembly line not to waste the corporation's valuable time by entering data the system no longer needs -- and whatever money they're making off the new process and improved efficiencies apparently covers the cost of reprinting thousands of cheap-ass envelopes until they can do a new press run without the form.
Posted by: Debby at July 15, 2005 12:18 PMAddendum: from a printing perspective, it costs the bank more to print these "X" envelopes than it does to print them without the form at all, because they have to add a second color. Given that, it's a little strange that these envelopes exist -- if it costs less to print envelopes that don't have the form, and the lack of a form would be a cue to both consumer and back-office staff that the form data is no longer required, why bother with the interim "X" version? It's not even a case of the bank scooping up their old envelopes and having the printer run a second color -- not only would that be difficult or likely impossible, given the press equipment, there is no red ink from the X in the center hole of the envelope. Thus these were definitely printed flat and assembled in a regular envelope printing job.
Weird, weird, weird.
Posted by: Debby at July 15, 2005 12:59 PMThe other tip-off that this wasn't just printed over existing envelopes is the fact that there is normally text in the left-hand column of the table (Something like "Cash" and "Checks" and "Total") and next to those check boxes.
Posted by: Francis at July 15, 2005 02:13 PMIt's also kind of odd that they still make you type the deposit amount into the ATM. I wonder what mayhem would result from simply typing 1,000,000.00 when it asks. Or maybe 0.01 would be better, so that they don't think you're trying to pull one over on them.
Posted by: neilfred at July 15, 2005 06:33 PM