I’m convinced that someone(s) why up high in the Philippine government has something against trees. Why else would they require the massive amounts of paperwork for that they do? (Joke only, don’t want to be upsetting any important people there).

For the record, as much as I’m into natural and what not, I’ve never bought into the “Save a Tree” movement with regards to paper usage. Maybe it’s because I’ve worked in the printing industry for so many years, and have come to learn first hand that paper is made from trees grown specifically for that purpose, and those forests are managed to a degree that most things are not. Possibly it was an issue long ago, but that isn’t the case now.

Anyway back to those paperwork requirements. It’s not just the number of forms, but even greater is the number of copies required. In a recent trip to the local CCRO I had to fill out a two page form in duplicate. No carbons, or copies, nope I had to fill it out twice, for four pages. To top it off they didn’t like some of my answers, so I got to do it all over, twice.

Before I was able to fill out that document, twice, twice, I had to bring some required identification and other forms. Once handing those over I was informed that I needed 7 copies of one, 4 copies of another, and various numbers of copies of the others. I didn’t even try to comprehend the reasoning why the number off copies didn’t match. I would hazard to guess if I came back the next day and got another clerk the number of copies would have been different. I’ll leave that experiment to someone with more patience than me.

If the price to make photo copies there wasn’t so low, I’d consider that as a side line. You certainly wouldn’t run out of work anytime soon. No, we’ve got to wipe out those pesky trees (joke only).

As I indicated, I’ve worked in the printing business for many years now. In the beginning it was with a forms company. I had many hospitals as clients. Whenever picking up a new one, the first thing you would do when forms came up for changes or reorder would be to go to the department and learn where each copy of the form went to. In about 50-75% of the time there would be one or two copies that no longer went anywhere. Once upon a time they may have, but not any longer. No one questioned the fact that those copies went straight to the trash. It wasn’t their (employee of the department’s) money. Why should they care?

I would bet a lot of money that the 7 copies of the one document I provided were not all used. There must be stacks and stacks of paper somewhere in these facilities, unless they have a regular burning. Hey, for all I know they burn them as soon as I walk out the door.

Well I’ll tell you this – I’m bringing my scanner and getting a good printer, one with those ink conversion kits. I’ll make copies until I can’t make any more. Yes, I plan to adjust quickly on this matter.

I’m with the Pilipinos on this, I’m not worried about a few trees.

By Randy C Category: Cultural Adjustment Tags: CCRO, forests, paperwork requirements, photo copies, printing industry, trees