Yes, the more money you make, the more paper you collect. This statement may sound far fetched but it is mostly true. Our firm, OfficeDrop has been studying paper collection habits for almost a year and has found that the education, wealth and age are directly correlated to amount of paper you accumulate.
If you are wondering how I am able to make such a bold statement, let us see what the different sources of paper are and how these sources are impacted by wealth, age and education.
Sources of paper at home and work
There are at least three sources that contribute the accumulation of paper at work and at home:
- Paper that you receive in the form of mail: This includes bills, statements, magazines, newspapers and marketing offers.
- Paper that you receive in person: These are store receipts, contractor invoices, mortgage documents etc that you receive when you transact with retailers, vendors and lawyers.
- Paper that you create: These include paper copies of the electronic documents you created or you received in email and the drawings your 5-year old brought back from school.
Amount of paper
Now that we have identified three major contributors to paper, let us see if our income, education and age have any correlation with the amount of paper.
It is not just Oil, we are also huge Paper consumers
Americans rank 3rd in the world in terms of paper consumption, right behind Luxembourg and Finland according to World Research Institute. By the way Nokia, the Finnish company was a paper company before it transformed into a cell phone gaint. The following graph shows a correlation between income per person and paper consumption: the more you make, the more you paper you consume.
USPS delivers more mail to richer households
According to the studies conducted by USPS [1. USPS Household Diary Study, 2007] since 1984, an average household received 110 mail pieces per month in 2007. This includes both personal and junk mail. Of course most of the mail is junk mail (about 60%). They also have been tracking if the mail received changes with age, income and education and they have found that the more money you make, the more educated you are, and the older you get, the more mail you receive. This does not come as a surprise as people who fit this profile tend to own more things, have more bank and brokerage accounts, subscribe to more magazines and receive more catalogs. (Plus, mailling lists are a little like the Hotel California: you get check in anytime you like, but you can never leave!)
Additionally, according to the US Census Bureau and the Investment Company Institute [2. Characteristics of Mutual Fund Owners ], mutual fund ownership increases with age and income. As you know, if you own mutual funds, you get quarterly statements, prospectuses and more from your financial institution.
Income is correlated to spending and material accumulation
Even when it comes to paper that you receive in person, the same pattern applies. If you make more money, you probably buy more stuff and shop more frequently, you probably own one or more homes and get work done on them and, finally, engage in legal agreements more often. Once again, there is plenty of data to show that income is directly correlated to home ownership and spending – two big sources of paper.
How about paper we create?
As for the last source of paper, we have not yet established any correlation between the older/richer/educated kind and if they create more paper. Considering printing costs become less of an issue if you are wealthy, may be you are not as hesitant in printing at home.
We would love to hear your thoughts on our analysis, and your paper collecting habits. If on the other hand, you have gone paperless, we would love to hear about your approaches to going paperless and getting organized.
I agree with the correlation. I’d also suggest that the more wealthy the person the more they do with regard to taxes and write-offs. These docs need to be kept handy for 7 years in case of an audit. I don’t want to get rid of anything if I used it to justify a write-off.
@lou
You bring up a good point. The rich tend to itemize their deductions, own businesses and have other kind of investments. All these require you to hold on to the supporting documents for at least 7 years.
Great work.