> every month, millions of credit card companies mail out zillions of bills to consumers in the mail. People write paper checks, stuff them in trillions of envelopes, and mail them back. The envelopes are put in big boxes and taken to countries where labor is cheap to be opened and processed.

Is this really how it works in 21st century America? Everything I get billed for here in the UK I get an email bill and the payment just comes out of my bank account directly without any manual work on my part, presumably highly automated at the other end, too.

Credit card, mortgage, council tax, bills for water and electricity - there is nothing I pay manually and certainly not with a piece of paper.