Banks. I know... but this takes the biscuit!
One doesn't think of a global bank as a "good citizen" really - and after the press they've had lately, with collapses, bonuses and what-all, their decent-human-being credit is at an all-time low.
BUT!
I am gobsmacked; flabbergasted; astounded (and was briefly dumbfounded, but I'm better now) by the blithe UNgreen behaviour of my bank this week.
As a (very) small business person, I had a card facility, so people who wanted to use their card to buy my wares could do so. Now that the operation is moving to Poland, I called up the bank and said: we're doing this, please close the facility, and how do we get the machine, the manual swipers (they sent me two, reason unknown) and the half-hundredweight of pristine, unused, unmarked, non-identified manual card stationery back to you?
We only want the machine, they said. You have to securely destroy everything else.
Well... I can see having to securely destroy things that identify the company, the bank, the machine, or any customer; BUT: the stationery is bland, blank, with no give-away details on it in the least, so secure/confidential disposal is not required. But even if I put it all in the recycle, it's still WASTE!
There is absolutely no reason why HSBC, my bank, couldn't accept this multitude of packs of brand-new vouchers back, for use by another customer. None. They don't even want it if I pay for the carriage!
I bet they have a green policy that they trot out to show everyone that'll stand still for 5 minutes; I bet they make proud noises about being good corporate citizens! - but everyone I spoke to at HSBC card services in the UK doesn't actually care what happens to all these vouchers - so long as I don't expect them to deal with them!
Way to go, HSBC. Not Impressed!
BUT!
I am gobsmacked; flabbergasted; astounded (and was briefly dumbfounded, but I'm better now) by the blithe UNgreen behaviour of my bank this week.
As a (very) small business person, I had a card facility, so people who wanted to use their card to buy my wares could do so. Now that the operation is moving to Poland, I called up the bank and said: we're doing this, please close the facility, and how do we get the machine, the manual swipers (they sent me two, reason unknown) and the half-hundredweight of pristine, unused, unmarked, non-identified manual card stationery back to you?
We only want the machine, they said. You have to securely destroy everything else.
Well... I can see having to securely destroy things that identify the company, the bank, the machine, or any customer; BUT: the stationery is bland, blank, with no give-away details on it in the least, so secure/confidential disposal is not required. But even if I put it all in the recycle, it's still WASTE!
There is absolutely no reason why HSBC, my bank, couldn't accept this multitude of packs of brand-new vouchers back, for use by another customer. None. They don't even want it if I pay for the carriage!
I bet they have a green policy that they trot out to show everyone that'll stand still for 5 minutes; I bet they make proud noises about being good corporate citizens! - but everyone I spoke to at HSBC card services in the UK doesn't actually care what happens to all these vouchers - so long as I don't expect them to deal with them!
Way to go, HSBC. Not Impressed!