Another Vanguard problem

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NomDeER You would go through the hassles of moving everything to FIDO just so that you don't have to click on the website's consolidated tax statement to get it and then print it yourself if you want a hard copy? I have issues with Vanguard's website, but access to my tax statements is not one of them. It's very easy. And Turbotax imports the information anyway without me having to personally input each piece of information from my tax statements. If FIDO hasn't adopted a paperless policy yet, I would think that they will eventually. More and more companies are charging if you don't go paperless. I'm someone with one of those lowlife $1 million accounts, and I am happy to see Vanguard do this. It not only saves paper, but saves processing and mailing costs. People who want paper mailed to them are getting an extra service that paperless customers (including the lowlife paperless customers) don't get. I don't see the problem with requiring them to pay for it themselves rather than passing on those costs to lowlifes like me.

Instead of the my favorite burger place analogy in the thread about moving to brokerage instead of mutual fund only, the analogy (sticking to a restaurant) is like if you go to a favorite place and when you get a doggy bag you get charged for the plastic bag and carton. Do you feel, that's a good thing for the betterment of the restaurant you patronize or do you feel a bit nickel and dimed?

[RetMD21]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset It's very confusing when people keep outdated papers around, and if a person is not shredding and throwing them away because it's too hard. Realize it will be harder for the the heirs, as they don't know off the top of their head "that account is closed/transferred" etc...

Looking for nonexistent accounts after someone passes is a pain in the neck

[disneysteve]

After my cousin died in 2021, I paid to have 10 cartons of paper shredded. He had EVERY statement and mailing and prospectus he had ever gotten for all of his accounts. It was nuts. I keep the current year and get rid of them in January and that’s it.

[Graybeard]

I didn't want to go paperless but the real possibility of my trust, IRA or Roth statements being delivered to the wrong address or stolen from my mailbox down by the road was a strong incentive to go paperless for everything. I print my statements and tax documents, much safer.

The odd thing is that they mail me the annual, semi annual and SAI documents for my trust account only.

Keeping costs low for us is good and for those that want to keep things as they were in 1995 then they should pay extra for that.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum Problem? I'd say it's a good solution to try to keep costs low. If you want statements and such mailed to you, you should pay for it yourself, not have the cost shared by others. $25 probably doesn't completely cover it if you're having everything mailed.

Every OTHER MF company I've ever used charged either $20 or $25/year per account. They didn't even mention "why." It was just their policy. I'm talking 20+ years ago 'til now.

I guess if Vanguard finally says "Hey, we gotta do that too" it doesn't surprise me though I'm not happy about it. BUT, I'm not gonna move my accounts over it. I save so much on fees that $25/year is trivial. (I will complain to them, however!) YMMV

[NomDeER]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer Instead of the my favorite burger place analogy in the thread about moving to brokerage instead of mutual fund only, the analogy (sticking to a restaurant) is like if you go to a favorite place and when you get a doggy bag you get charged for the plastic bag and carton. Do you feel, that's a good thing for the betterment of the restaurant you patronize or do you feel a bit nickel and dimed?

I don't think that's the right analogy. Imagine that you were given a container for free, but if you wanted a more expensive and environmentally unfriendly foam container, you had to pay extra. Seems fair to me.

Also, if I really liked the restaurant and it had excellent prices, I don't think being charged for a doggy bag would have me refusing to go to that restaurant anymore. Obviously, YMMV.

[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRG Tiny * 30,000,000 is a really big number. Actually my job requisition was approved to work on a project that combined checks when you had multiple accounts for another vendor in financial services. I was cheaper than postage.

Why $30,000,000? Many prefer electronic statements anyway. Many companies like utilities are defaulting to online billing, etc. but permitting customers to maintain paper billing optionally at no cost. Others reward customers for going paperless. Vanguard seems to have a knack for ticking off customers.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash Why $30,000,000? Many prefer electronic statements anyway. Many companies like utilities are defaulting to online billing, etc. but permitting customers to maintain paper billing optionally at no cost. Others reward customers for going paperless. Vanguard seems to have a knack for ticking off customers.

30,000,000 shareowners. There is no way to really know what $ figure printing and postage are in whatever subset is mailing times the number of mailings per year. Of course, this is the point of my post.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash Why $30,000,000? Vanguard seems to have a knack for ticking off customers.

Just enough to tick them off - but not enough to make them move, though YMMV.

[jazz4cash]

I wish Blue Cross would reduce paper mailings. I get six pages of heavy bond sheets for each and every doctor visit and/or lab order. One page of info and 5 pages of boilerplate. Last year I was doing chiropractor 3x per week. A monthly statement would be a big improvement and cut waste.

[RetMD21]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Just enough to tick them off - but not enough to make them move, though YMMV.

People will complain about anything

[Rianne]

We're 100% electronic with VG, do not get charged $25.

We're trying to get the HVAC company to fix our 6-year-old high-efficiency $12,000 HVAC system since we have a 10-year warranty and it won't even turn on in 90+ degree weather. They might show up next week, Friday. We pay $20/month to be on their preferred customer program. Let's complain about stuff that matters!

[jim584672]

I'm happy with no paper. I scanned ALL my paper statements and docs and dumped them. 100% paperless is so much easier. Just have a robust backup strategy!

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 I like getting the paper statements. Downloaded ones would be okay, but if/when I pass, how would heirs know that I even had an account? And DW is not all that great with online banking and such, I'm not going to make things more difficult for her at an otherwise very stressful time. And as far as the cost of mailing them goes, not too long ago there were no objections to that and now they want to change the rules in the middle of the game. I find that offensive.

+1 on this....


I do not have any transactions or prospectus sent to me, but I want the stmts so someone coming in after me will see what I own...


If you want to go all electronic then more power to you...



And having it at 5 milll? Really, a mill is not enough?




Edit to add... I still have 6 accounts with Vanguard (maybe 8) but I have ONE consolidated statement mailed to me... why would I have to pay $25 for EACH account?

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetMD21 People will complain about anything

Yeah, it's part of being human, I guess.

[ls99]

I like the paper stuff. Get to read them kicking back in an easy chair. When done, use the paper as fire starter, for stove or campfire.
Especially useful since a few free newspapers stopped publishing. Fortunately, the post office still delivers paper ads.

The idea of having to have an electronic gizmo to read statements, prospectuses etc, is annoying. So, I'll pay the $25.-. The low cost of the VG investments more then takes care of it. Still less than paying some goofball "advisor" like fast eddie, their percentages.
I do like to have the option of using electronic gizmo.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 I like the paper stuff. Get to read them kicking back in an easy chair. When done, use the paper as fire starter, for stove or campfire. Especially useful since a few free newspapers stopped publishing. Fortunately, the post office still delivers paper ads. The idea of having to have an electronic gizmo to read statements, prospectuses etc, is annoying. So, I'll pay the $25.-. The low cost of the VG investments more then takes care of it. Still less than paying some goofball "advisor" like fast eddie, their percentages. I do like to have the option of using electronic gizmo.

I have no interest in paper-less. I don't have a functioning printer for hard copy.

I'd rather V (or whomever) would get more efficient in their use of paper. Ditch the boiler plate and condense the info AND put all of one's print outs into one single envelope (I think I get 6 mailings each time.) Losing the extra paper would likely lower the mailing/paper costs by 75%. YMMV

[ls99]

I don't want to have to print out the stuff. Even though I re-use paper stuff received in the mail (some of VG's as well) if it has blank side. Printer ink is expensive! Another reason to put up with their $25.-

[gauss]

Really glad that I didn't pull the trigger and convert my Vanguard MF accounts to VBS accounts just to avoid the annual MF fee.

-gauss

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 I don't want to have to print out the stuff. Even though I re-use paper stuff received in the mail (some of VG's as well) if it has blank side. Printer ink is expensive! Another reason to put up with their $25.-

Hear, Hear!