Keeping Cards: The Importance of Document Retention Policies in Companies

[Pengwuino]

Simple enough question, how long do people here keep cards such as birthday cards, get well soon cards, cards for events like graduation... etc etc?

 

[hypatia]

Some cards I have had from my childhood, hmm, I've been told I keep way to many cards. Over the years I have had to limit saving cards, each Christmas I save only one. Last year it was MIH's California Santa card.

 

[Moonbear]

I save Christmas cards until all the decorations come down (usually by Valentine's Day ). Everything else, maybe a week, at least until the event they are acknowledging passes if they arrive ahead of it. I didn't inherit any of my parents' pack-rat tendencies, so they aren't kept for very long (my mom still has the cards sent for my first birthday).

 

[turbo]

When I proposed to my wife, I did it in a hand-painted Valentines's card and she has it in a box with her "special" stuff. She had to save Borek's card and the envelope too - the one with the decidedly non-specific address.

Other cards that she saves include (mostly humorous) birthday cards from me. One she got a big kick out of was about her birthday not being a bad thing, just another station on the Amtrak to Wrinkle City.

 

[leroyjenkens]

When someone hands me a Christmas card, I open it up, grab the money and toss the card on the floor without reading it. Then I say "only five dollars?"

 

[Evo]

It depends on who it is from and the reason. There is no "rule". If someone has written something thoughtful inside the card, I will save it.

 

[Winzer]

Birthday Cards: A couple days tops
Get well cards: until your well enough
Graduations cards: I have kept these for a long time
Other Holiday cards: a couple days

When someone hands me a Christmas card, I open it up, grab the money and toss the card on the floor without reading it. Then I say "only five dollars?"

I used to open the envelope and just shake the card to see if anything came out. I wouldn't even open it.

 

[Monocerotis]

throw them out right after I read them lol

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Generally they go straight into the trash after I read them unless they are special in which case I usually keep them about as long as it takes for them to get lost or ruined.

 

[Pengwuino]

Ok, so apparently you're all evil SOB's I sitll have cards from 5 months ago on my desk.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Ok, so apparently you're all evil SOB's I sitll have cards from 5 months ago on my desk.

I have packrat family members that I grew up living with and I hate clutter. Every now and again I find myself collecting junk and have to go through and purge my possessions of it.

 

[Moonbear]

I have packrat family members that I grew up living with and I hate clutter. Every now and again I find myself collecting junk and have to go through and purge my possessions of it.

Same here. I have enough stuff that is on my desk because it's all things I'm currently working on/with and it already drives me nuts, so anything that's not important gets tossed quickly. If I had a card on my desk for 5 months, it would only be because it got buried under a pile of other papers before I threw it out.

 

[GeorginaS]

I don't like clutter either, and I don't keep a whole bunch of junk around, nor do I have packrat tendencies and save everything. (I leave that to my best friend who, despite having moved across the country and several times since then and our not having co-habitated for well over 25 years, still owns the majority of my stuff that I left behind in our old apartment.) But I keep most cards and letters. Christmas cards, not so much, because they aren't specific -- usually having come from a box of identical cards (meaning, the card sent to me wasn't specifically selected because it meant something to the sender) it's a "general" sort of greeting. But other cards, yes, I save them. They go into my trunk, which is the sole repository of "kept stuff" that doesn't have actual utility or purpose. I liken them to my photo albums. They're a collection of memories and, yes, I visit them from time to time.

 

[Huckleberry]

I don't usually get cards so it saves me the trouble of throwing them out. My parents still insist on sending me birthday and christmas cards, but that's about it. I'd prefer a phone call or a letter. I keep those forever.

 

[Pengwuino]

The thing I think annoys me the most about the idea of throwing cards away is that it's something someone went out and bought for you... and you're going to just throw it away. I can't think of anything else that people get that is expected to be just thrown away.

 

[turbo]

The thing I think annoys me the most about the idea of throwing cards away is that it's something someone went out and bought for you... and you're going to just throw it away. I can't think of anything else that people get that is expected to be just thrown away.

I don't mind throwing them away as long as the people who sent them are the ones who blew several bucks each at a Hallmark store. When I proposed to my wife, I had art-paper, India ink, a crow-quill steel nib pen and a set of pretty nice dry-cake watercolors. I made her card, and I made the envelope, including a hand-drawn "stamp" and "cancellation mark". A commercial card would have cost us money when we had none (essentially) and would have been a candidate for the trash unless my inscription was killer. We were both out of work at the time, since the mill that we both worked at had closed, and I was the only one who was eligible for unemployment, since the previous wood mill that she worked at had closed before she had amassed enough time since HS to become eligible. We started with essentially nothing but hand-me-down pots and pans and a few utensils, and a pay-by-the-week apartment. We didn't need Hallmark then, and now that we can afford it, we don't need it now, either.

Disclaimer: A very close friend of mine spent decades in CA as a graphic artist for Hallmark, and though he earned a decent living that way for a long time, he came to Maine to struggle as an artist and supplement the income with sign-painting, custom lettering and graphics, etc. He's happier here.

 

[Evo]

I'm a terrible packrat. When I moved two years ago, it was to a much smaller place, so I couldn't move many things and not a day goes by that I don't regret having not moved an item.

We moved offices again yesterday. I had to pack up everything in my office for the movers, so I dumped a ton of old files rather than move them again.

I *KNOW* I will need at least half of those files within the next 90 days although some hadn't been touched since 2003.

Two years ago when we moved offices, I threw out all of my training material on satellites and GPS, thinking I had it all memorized, then someone asked me a question and I forgot and I had none of my material to reference.

 

[turbo]

Two years ago when we moved offices, I threw out all of my training material on satellites and GPS, thinking I had it all memorized, then someone asked me a question and I forgot and I had none of my material to reference.

Not good. I dumped a bunch of systems descriptions, training materials, etc, with the excuse that they were mill-specific and "proprietary". Dumb. Steam-tables don't change, the strategies for superheating and desuperheating steam don't change much from one application to another, and there was a lot of fairly creative writing targeted to adult learners with HS (at best) educations to help them understand these concepts. I shouldn't have abandoned that stuff with such a cavalier attitude just because I had a more lucrative job.

 

[Evo]

Not good. I dumped a bunch of systems descriptions, training materials, etc, with the excuse that they were mill-specific and "proprietary". Dumb. Steam-tables don't change, the strategies for superheating and desuperheating steam don't change much from one application to another, and there was a lot of fairly creative writing targeted to adult learners with HS (at best) educations to help them understand these concepts. I shouldn't have abandoned that stuff with such a cavalier attitude just because I had a more lucrative job.

Yes, this was all proprietary and I couldn't find what I needed online. Even the course had been removed from our training website.

 

[turbo]

Yes, this was all proprietary and I couldn't find what I needed online. Even the course had been removed from our training website.

I was an idiot. I should have commented the training materials just like I commented code to clearly identify generic training materials from contract-specific materials. It's easy to toss stuff when you are fat and happy, only to realize later that some basics don't change, or only change so slowly that they can be re-packaged and re-presented to others. Many of the pulp and paper mills that I consulted for were built in the '60's and their power boilers, chemical recovery boilers, and steam distribution and electrical generating systems STILL need reliable, updated, cogent systems-descriptions and related training materials. Why did I toss all that material when I found a "better" career? Ignorance, pride, and lack of foresight...?

 

[Moonbear]

I'm a terrible packrat. When I moved two years ago, it was to a much smaller place, so I couldn't move many things and not a day goes by that I don't regret having not moved an item.

We moved offices again yesterday. I had to pack up everything in my office for the movers, so I dumped a ton of old files rather than move them again.

Doesn't your company have some sort of archival or storage service for old files? You shouldn't have to keep them in your office, nor should you need to throw away old files and risk that they are needed again.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Doesn't your company have some sort of archival or storage service for old files? You shouldn't have to keep them in your office, nor should you need to throw away old files and risk that they are needed again.

Corporations are probably not as good about that sort of thing as labs and colleges are. They are coming out with all sorts of new junk that employees "need" to read all the time. Then they change policy or strategy a year or even a few months later and almost entirely forget about the old material. At the corporate owned college I used to work at there were stacks upon stacks of old pamphlets and work books in our offices most of which I probably never even looked at.

I did how ever keep my state mandated training materials which may become useful someday if I stay in security.

 

[Danger]

I keep all correspondence (which explains my full PM box).

 

[lisab]

I keep most cards, especially since I wonder if they will still be common in 30 years or so. They take up so little space, really.

Kind of like keeping telegraphs, maybe . They will be interesting someday, no matter how mundane.

 

[rootX]

I keep handwritten or handmade cards for more time than one sent electronically.

 

[Evo]

Doesn't your company have some sort of archival or storage service for old files? You shouldn't have to keep them in your office, nor should you need to throw away old files and risk that they are needed again.

They only scan and archive contracts, not the proposals, the correspondence, the network designs, orders, etc...

Because I was a packrat and never deleted anything, I had evidence which caused two large ISP's that disputed financial responsibilty in a buyout to have to pay. The ISP I had designed a network for had been bought by another larger ISP. The company that was bought refused to pay, saying that the new company had agreed to pay off their contract, the new ISP claimed they had made no such agreement. My company was ready to settle for a fraction of what was owed to us. I was asked by my company to just attend the court hearing, but when I told them I had all of the original correspondance between the owners of the two companies, and the attornies for my company saw what I had, they decided to hold the new ISP 100% responsible and the ISP's attornies had to agree and we got the full amount, it was a multi-million dollar contract. I got a nice thank you letter from my company, but no money.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I keep all correspondence (which explains my full PM box).

Yep, still full.

Are you back now?

 

[Danger]

Are you back now?

Pretty much. I had some personal stuff going on for a while. I quit drinking on Labour Day, then W left me a week later, so I was a bit messed up. It took almost a week to get over both of them. Then, twice, my internet provider lost my password so I couldn't access the net. (Both times were during device installation to my modem/router, which is why the password was needed.) Everything's fine now. I'm not as communicative as I used to be, but that's probably because no one here has encountered me sober before. Lack of beer stifles my creativity somewhat.

 

[Evo]

Pretty much. I had some personal stuff going on for a while. I quit drinking on Labour Day, then W left me a week later, so I was a bit messed up. It took almost a week to get over both of them. Then, twice, my internet provider lost my password so I couldn't access the net. (Both times were during device installation to my modem/router, which is why the password was needed.) Everything's fine now. I'm not as communicative as I used to be, but that's probably because no one here has encountered me sober before. Lack of beer stifles my creativity somewhat.

We love you Danger. You caught my attention the first day you came here.

I admire you for not drinking, now if we can get you to stop smoking.

 

[Danger]

now if we can get you to stop smoking.

That's next, but I'm not going to rush it. Single and sober is enough change for one season.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Pretty much. I had some personal stuff going on for a while. I quit drinking on Labour Day, then W left me a week later, so I was a bit messed up. It took almost a week to get over both of them. Then, twice, my internet provider lost my password so I couldn't access the net. (Both times were during device installation to my modem/router, which is why the password was needed.) Everything's fine now. I'm not as communicative as I used to be, but that's probably because no one here has encountered me sober before. Lack of beer stifles my creativity somewhat.

Well I wish I could come and keep you company Danger. We could shoot some pool and get amped on caffeine and nicotine (halfway teetotallers). My cigarettes (cloves) are banned here now. I found one final place that still has some in stock. I will have to either quit or start ordering online and I find forced quitting rather off putting.

I also think I will be getting my own internet connection soon. I have not found anyone to leech off of at my new place and my phone does not work so well for anything other than rudimentary browsing and posting.

Good luck with the sobriety. I would suggest occasional beers if you think you can do so without a relapse (and can afford it health wise). I found personally that my alcoholic behavior was better tempered than cut off. The AA attitude of "the alcohol owns you" always seemed all too scary to me. I don't want to admit defeat to an inanimate object. I understand that it can be harder for some though. You're a tough old bird. I have confidence in you. And don't let momentary weakness make you feel less than tough. It happens to us all. Its just another hurdle.

*manly pat on the back* ;-)

 

[Danger]

I appreciate the thoughts, Stats.
It's kinda weird that clove cigarettes are banned. I can't stand the things myself, but they're definitely better for you than tobacco.
Cold-turkey is the only way for me to deal with alcohol. If I have one drink, I'll have lots of drinks. Luckily, I haven't even felt the desire for one since I quit.
It would be nice to have your own connection. So much more convenient that way, especially at odd hours.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I appreciate the thoughts, Stats.
It's kinda weird that clove cigarettes are banned. I can't stand the things myself, but they're definitely better for you than tobacco.

I don't think that they are really any better. I've even heard that they are worse. Apparently the idea is to cut down on the number of new young smokers because they apparently favour flavoured cigarettes. I certainly did, so I guess I can not really knock the logic in that.

Cold-turkey is the only way for me to deal with alcohol. If I have one drink, I'll have lots of drinks. Luckily, I haven't even felt the desire for one since I quit.

I can appreciate that. I have certainly had my moments. I can not imagine having that sort of moment all the time or even the majority of the time. I remember 'Leo' in The West Wing describing his addiction, and maybe he's just a fictional character but it was hard to not take such a respectable and tough guy seriously.
I'm afraid that I am coming across wrong.
I just want you to know that I don't think any less of you for it Danger. :-)

Good luck again. You know we are always here to talk to and for support if you need it.

 

[Danger]

You know we are always here to talk to and for support if you need it.

I do know that, and it means a lot to me. By the bye, I've made room in my PM box.

 

[Moonbear]

They only scan and archive contracts, not the proposals, the correspondence, the network designs, orders, etc...

Because I was a packrat and never deleted anything, I had evidence which caused two large ISP's that disputed financial responsibilty in a buyout to have to pay. The ISP I had designed a network for had been bought by another larger ISP. The company that was bought refused to pay, saying that the new company had agreed to pay off their contract, the new ISP claimed they had made no such agreement. My company was ready to settle for a fraction of what was owed to us. I was asked by my company to just attend the court hearing, but when I told them I had all of the original correspondance between the owners of the two companies, and the attornies for my company saw what I had, they decided to hold the new ISP 100% responsible and the ISP's attornies had to agree and we got the full amount, it was a multi-million dollar contract. I got a nice thank you letter from my company, but no money.

That's exactly the sort of reason I thought a company would put the effort into keeping all their old documents like that, even if it's just stuff scanned and stored electronically...or just dumped into a warehouse that lawyers can spend their time hunting through if they ever think they need something. Sometimes it's all the other supporting documents that are important even with a contract dispute, just to show that one particular interpretation of it is right or wrong, or that the work was done as specified in the contract. You'd think after that experience, they'd have learned to start archiving more than just contracts.