The more things change…

…the bigger the numbers get.

It’s the end of the month and I’m paying bills. I still do things the old-fashioned way – I write checks.

I used to write monthly checks to KP&L, Kansas Power and Light, for gas and electricity. Well, as you all know, that became Westar Energy. Then there was a spat or something and now electricity comes from Westar and gas comes from Kansas Gas Service.

Each time the name changes, I get a new account number. A bigger number. A number sooooo long that it barely fits on the note line of the check. My account number for Kansas Gas Service is 18 digits and 2 spaces long.

Same thing happened to Cablevision which became Time Warner which became Cable One. My account number is now 14 digits and three dashes long.

Heck, even the federal government, well known for complicating things unnecessarily, only needs a 9-digit number to keep track of each of us 300 million Americans.