Paper or Electronic Invoicing?

By Cris Cutt


Since its inception in 105 AD, paper has been an integral part of human life. It completely revolutionized how we live, from the way we record history to daily tasks. From communication to record keeping, the invention of paper will forever be marked as a turning point in human society. Think too about the many other inventions made possible by paper, printing and even cleaning supplies make that list. Not to mention all the benefits businesses and freelancers worldwide enjoy thanks to paper. Today paper is thinner and smaller which makes it super portable and an inseparable part of day-to-day life. Can you imagine the world without paper? Just the thought makes you understand just how precious a commodity it truly is.

Business enterprise is no secret everyone is aware of its significance. Have you ever seen an invoice? If so you already know the majority are made of paper, and while they are important for business operations, you should also be aware of a significant environmental issue with paper invoices. Major contributors to said issue is freelancers and corporate America. Would you be surprised to learn that nearly 32% of the 70,000 contractors who have lost their job will turn to freelancing? The World Wide Web has opened up a variety of options for freelance designers and many others, such as writers. You see many businesses are looking to the internet for increased sales, which means your next client could be half a world away. This same concept is true for freelance writers as well. Good writers are in hot demand for reviews, websites, twitter accounts and blogs as the owners want quality written pieces to further their own business. As a side, not you might be interested to learn that freelancer's gross revenues are also growing.

In the United States there are about 50 large graphic design firms, however they are a mere 1% of the total number of design firms. That being said you should know this small number of design firms are raking in 16% of the total invoicing, which comes to about $1.3 billion of total invoicing. Let this huge figure sink in for a moment and you will begin to get an idea of just how much paper invoicing waste there really is.

Even more alarming is the large number of paper invoices corporate America generates. Annually there are approximately 13 billion invoices traded annually in the US alone, which suggests about 25 billion pieces of paper used each year in the office.

Think about all the trees cut annually around the world, would you be surprised to learn that 10% of them are cut for the production of invoices. This does not even consider the amount of electricity that goes into paper production, which is equal to about 20 million households.

Change is beyond overdue and taking a page from the European Union handbook might be a good place to start. Today businesses are legally obligated to accept electronic invoicing thanks to laws passed in 2004.






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