[...] the very large Japanese bank which for various reasons thinks it needs to send a certain type of paperwork to customers and record a printed reply. It spent many millions of dollars inventing a system which would allow the bank to print the received reply on behalf of the customer and thereby save one of the two stamps needed for the process. Lest I be accused of making fun of Japan here, I will note that the United States Postal Service has an employed senior official whose only job is making sure the largest banks in the U.S. don’t go paperless-by-default.
That's a fascinating bit of insight. I've seen those exact things play out, but didn't know the economics pushing all the banks in the same direction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs