Bill Rant

I just got done paying some bills and feel the need to rant a bit. No, it's not the case of "too much month left at the end of the money". (not this month, anyway).

My gripe is the way certain bills are made. Paying bills for my family and my property management business, as well as being a bookkeeper for two other PM businesses in the past, I have paid and do pay a lot of bills.

Most bills are fine, you write the check, tear off the stub, stuff it in the envelope and away you send it. Not all are so easy.

So what's my beef? Invoices that don't fit into the provided envelope and are not perforated. Case in point, I paid a doctor bill this morning. After I wrote in the amount paid, I went to tear off the part you return with your check. Guess what? It wasn't perforated and I tore the hell out of it. It says in tiny print "cut here and return with payment". Sheesh. This invoice is printed on an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper and the envelope provided is miniscule. Not only did I have to fold the return stub several times, I had to fold a regular wallet size check.

I have found over the years that small operations are the worst - Doctors, small alarm companies and small HOAs. My advice? Get a decent billing software program.

Or I guess I could pay ALL of my bills online - yeah, that would work, too.