I worked for Exxon right after the Valdez mess. They had a document retention policy, but it wasn't really enforced. Results? They spent tens of millions of dollars just on discovery.
The point of a good document retention policy is not to destroy damaging evidence, but to lower the cost of the discovery process.
I also was an intern for a congressman one summer (1987), and can attest that this is how it works.
1. Bags of mail get delivered daily.
2. Aides open mail, check the author versus a database of contributors, business leaders, lobbyist, and other VIPs. (These will get kicked up the food chain depending on how important they really are.)
3. Open appropriate canned response letter in word processor and edit it to fit the context of the letter.
4. At the end of the day, print all outbound mail, and take it down to the congressional printing office where it's cut, collated, and stuffed into envelopes.
5. Mail it.
To be fair though, the congressman and the staff spend a lot of time and effort on the responses. It was a regular topic at the weekly staff meeting and the congressman personally wrote or approved all the canned letters.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly.
I worked for Exxon right after the Valdez mess. They had a document retention policy, but it wasn't really enforced. Results? They spent tens of millions of dollars just on discovery.
The point of a good document retention policy is not to destroy damaging evidence, but to lower the cost of the discovery process.
I also was an intern for a congressman one summer (1987), and can attest that this is how it works.
1. Bags of mail get delivered daily.
2. Aides open mail, check the author versus a database of contributors, business leaders, lobbyist, and other VIPs. (These will get kicked up the food chain depending on how important they really are.)
3. Open appropriate canned response letter in word processor and edit it to fit the context of the letter.
4. At the end of the day, print all outbound mail, and take it down to the congressional printing office where it's cut, collated, and stuffed into envelopes.
5. Mail it.
To be fair though, the congressman and the staff spend a lot of time and effort on the responses. It was a regular topic at the weekly staff meeting and the congressman personally wrote or approved all the canned letters.