Imagine a scenario that could cause up to 24 billion fewer sheets of paper to be printed and delivered to consumers every year. Actually, there are two of them, and together they could start to rattle the hard-copy document delivery chain as soon as next year.

Everyone who has grown accustomed to receiving financial and healthcare documents in hard-copy form also knows the zeal with which the senders urge their recipients to change the format to electronic delivery.

Two federal agencies mean to reward that zeal by making e-delivery the default for financial and healthcare communications subject to their requirements. Paper would still be available, but only by request.

Parallel proposals along these lines by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Labor (DOL) could take effect in 2027 without Congressional approval or any other kind of review. The financial and healthcare industries laud them as overdue steps toward modernization.

Industries with vested interests in physical document distribution, on the other hand, are sounding dire alarms.

SEC, DOL Push Default E-Delivery; Industry Pushes Back – WhatTheyThink