The money crunchers at Vanguard Investments recently changed their rules to make their mailing of hard copy documents an expensive option. Previously, one could avoid a $25 fee for each account (I have four) by investing over $1 million, until VG raised the figure to $5 million.
This change in customer care has nothing to do about the environment. VG really, really wants to avoid the substantial cost in printing and mailing documents. Just unbundle that task from the concept of service and, tah dah, VG saves millions. In doing so, they also tick off just about every one of their customers.
VG obviously has no clue about the expense and hassle in home-based document printing. As a retiree, I have no convenient way to print lengthy documents at the expense of an employer. My HP inkjet printer guzzles ink, and HP makes every effort--including likely illegal ones--to prevent the use of reused cartridges.
Contrast VG's sneaky and ham-handed environmentalism, with what Fidelity and T. Rowe Price do. They gladly send statements pre-punched for easy insertion into a loose leaf binder.
This process may seem old school, but maybe Fidelity and T. Rowe Price know something about investor behavior that VG wants to ignore: investors like hard copies of their statements and they also like to compare performance by referencing different monthly statements.
Try toggling monthly statements on line and you might see the benefit in having hard copies.
Vanguard has increased my printing duties substantially. Would it be over reacting to take my business elsewhere?
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