Will the iPod generation want paper or electronic bill presentment?

I have been frequently traveling and now have become increasingly dependent upon my iPhone. Not alone with my addiction, I saw many young people on the plane with Apple's signature white ear plugs watching video's, playing games, and listening to music. I began to wonder - would the iPod generation even want to have paper bills and documents delivered via the United States Postal Service or would critical statements just be transmitted to their iPhone or some other gadget? Was paper going to be eliminated and considered obsolete in this new iPod generation? Later in the day, I had a brief interview with Susan Borden-Lunt, Editor of The Hard Copy Observer, we discussed that many liked paper since it makes you feel more secure than electronic PDF. That in fact, most would like to have both forms. But would this hold true for the next generations to come? And what about the Green movement? Do people feel Greener by receiving statement electronically? Since I am basically a curious person, I set out to gain a better understanding of electronic statement presentation and its related link to iPod demographics. Most information seemed to be rather dated, but Pitney Bowes did publish a good paper in 2007 on the topic: Summary Findings and Strategic Conclusions, by Alex Fu. Below is an abstract of their findings which can be read on their website.

Electronic presentment adoption is growing, but at slowing growth rates. Most bill-intensive consumers have already adopted "online viewing" of bills and statements and also maintained the mailed statement. As a result, some 90% of consumers in the US and more than 70% in Europe use both paper and electronic media for presentment and still overwhelmingly prefer paper. Further, many consumers who currently use just paper do not plan to go electronic. Of course, biller penalties could alter this prognosis. We believe that progressive billers will instead increasingly turn to use the monthly statements as a relationship and promotional tool and will cease viewing it purely as a cost item.

Still my question remained: would the iPod generation want paper or electronic presentment? As stated, the information on the web seemed to be a little aged, and then I came across a recent survey conducted by Zommerang for the InfoPrint Solutions Company. The article, "Marketers Still Not Targeting Their Customers Effectively", suggests some trends and percentages about paper vs. electronic presentment. I contacted the public relations firm Breakaway Communications which released the article, and they confirmed the 1000 people were surveyed were between the ages of 18-35 years old. This quick survey is an interesting read. Apparently 57 percent of the respondents preferred the tried and true method of hard copy mail delivery of mortgages, 401k information, and other important statements. Apparently annoying this age group seemed to be the additional promotional materials which accompany the statement and 86 percent of consumers said they have never purchased a product or service after receiving a separate promotional document with their monthly statements. 64 percent of respondents questioned in the survey said that they would use personalized coupons if printed onto monthly bills and statements, with nearly half responding that these would actually encourage brand loyalty. To add to this trend, 45 percent of consumers questioned felt that colorful promotional materials stood out as more interesting and enticing to read.

So, I will continue to research this demographic, but for now it appears paper statements are not going away anytime soon for me or the iPod generation.