On Tuesday, 19 June 2018 19:05:24 UTC+1, Rod Speed wrote:
whisky-dave wrote
Rod Speed wrote
NY wrote
Rod Speed wrote
NY wrote

For B&W (eg letters) a laser is probably a better buy than
an inkjet - no streaky print if it's not been used for a while.

What is the point of printing letters anymore ?

For companies that need an "official", signed document.

Havent come across one of those in decades now.

Most solicitors requre such things to be physically signed on paper.

Yes, but they are the ones who printed what gets signed, not the signer.

Which is why they send it through the post yes, that way they can charge for it too. Plus if the person signing the paper can print it they could also change it.



So while it certainly makes sense for the solicitor to have a laser printer
that they use to print what gets signed, no need for the signer to have one.

No need for a signer to own or have a pen either. There;s no reason for the signer to wear clothes either but that isnlt the point.



And most of what gets signed on a piece of paper now
needs a proper witness etc,

yes I know.

so you can't even claim that
its convenient to have a printer at home so you can print
what arrives electronically and post it back now.

Depending what it is, but most might prefer to print out a legal document than read it on their phone. I do and I highlighted any errors, and emailed the solicitor back expalining the any errors.



For the very very few items where that is still needed,
it makes more sense to print it down the library etc
instead of having a laser printer at home for the very
very few occasions where you do need to do that now.

So it;s always been that way even with typewriters for some they were
a worthwhile addition to their hone for others they were a waste of space.


For some things such as house deeds signing over
ownership they DO NOT accept emails or even fax.

Sure, but in that case its the solicitor that prints it, not the signer.

Yes so. Even if the solicitor prints it they ahve to send it too, whereas I can print it and read it before it arrives.

Apple don't send you their T&Cs as a printed document but you have to click to accept it, I doubt you've read those 20k odd words everytime up update.




Selfies of you signing it aren't accdepted either you still need a
witness.

So it makes sense for the solicitor to print it, not the signer.

Yes and that is what they do, what's your point, if you have one.



or a written letter is harder to ignore and more likely to elicit a
response than a web form which I suspect often gets redirected to
/dev/null or else to a junior support sprog who tries to palm you off
with platitudes and who utterly fails to address the points you raise..

Written letters just get filed in the round filing cabinet under the
desk.

Depending on the contents the written letter might be
as it was with the windrush files and should have been
scanned or photographed in some way and stored.

If they do that, they will keep the emails they receive too.

Emails didn't exist when the windrush arrived in the UK which arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, on 22 June 1948.
But they can't seemd to find the scanned versions if they did scan them.




Even with buying houses etc, I didnt need
to print anything, the agent did that.

The agent charges for such things
or it's included in the costs.

Still means that there is no need for the
buyer to print anything, the agent does that.

Irrelevent, as the buyer might want to print our things for themseles anyway.



Or in our case, the solicitor actually shows up at the
auction in person with the printed paperwork which
the buyer signs once they have won at the auction.

Yep, so hopefully the buyer has checked what the solicitors brings to the auction. The person buying at auction might want to print out the catalogue or just the pages they are interested in.