I just set up a direct deposit link between my healthcare spending account and my ING Direct checking account. Let me tell you how I did it:
Step 1: Access a PDF of the spending account company’s direct deposit form.
Step 2: Fill out the form in Adobe Reader.
Step 3: Print the form.
Step 4: Print a voided check from ING Direct.
Step 5: Cut the voided check out of the printout.
Step 6: Tape the printout of the voided check to the printout of the direct deposit form PDF.
Step 7: Sign the printout of the direct deposit form PDF with the printout of the voided check taped to it, thus proving that no one else in the world could possibly be filling out this form.
Step 8: Fax the printout of the direct deposit form PDF with the printout of the voided check taped to it to the spending account company.
Step 9: Wait a week while a human manually enters the data on the fax into the spending account company’s database.
I have a tiny device in my pocket that I can use to communicate instantaneously with anyone in the world any time I want. This device was probably invented some time around 2005 to 2006. I did not use that device to complete the simple task I just completed.
Instead, I used a device that was invented in 1969 and another device that was invented in the 1840s in tandem to communicate information contained on a piece of technology invented in 3700 BCE.
Oh, even better, and then? I threw the printouts away.
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