Brian's great post about manual typewriters reminded me that my laywer's office is decorated with lotsof different antique typewriters.

There is a subliminal aspect to it, I believe. Many people believe that lawyers just have their secretaries print out pre-made forms on the word process and they are paying megabucks for a few seconds of printer time.

The manual typewriters all around the office leave one with the clear impression that all documents are manually prepared exclusively for the client and aren't just copies of something else.

Always make sure you have an old but functional manual typewriter on your next. You can show off to all your luddite customers when they visit. You know the ones that don't like to use the internet for placing orders or customer service!

You can tell them to have a seat while you type of their order and start pounding away at the typewriter and using vigious amounts of white out!

Manual Typewriters, the Retro-Fangled Counter-Upgrade to Your Automatic Business

In a world of ever-increasing technology, there are so many things from simpler times that may make your life better, easier, and that much more reminiscent of the 1950s. One such contraption is the manual typewriter. Not only are they cheaper now, adjusted for inflation, than ever before, but there are many tangible benefits that make them more important now than ever before.

• 1 - They are excellent for filling out forms when your electricity is out. If you live in a place, you surely suffer the random power outage, so what could be better than having your very own electricity-shortage insurance policy?
• 2 - They are strangely popular in prisons, possibly because prisons are all about punishment, and what could be better for that than making you feel like you're trapped in the past?
• 3 - Interpol in Costa Rica uses them, though they've refused to state why. Leading experts believe it's because, well, you know, it's Costa Rica.
• 4 - The Colombian Government still uses them to issue passports, which just proves that time-tested technology is the best. Besides, faking a document when the original is printed with a manual typewriter can be uncommonly difficult.
• 5 – You can use it to fake copies of documents originally made on a manual typewriter.
• 6 – Manual typewriters save on electricity. According to the Energy Star rating system, manual typewriters only cost $1 per year in electricity (with a margin of error no greater than $1).
• 7 – When the lights go dark, you won't lose your work just because you forgot to hit "save".
• 8 – Old drafts of documents are never lost, just placed aside for safe keeping, posterity and to insure your hallways make you look like a crazy, old hermit.
• 9 – Carbon copies simply can't be made by inkjet or laser printers.
• 10 – They exercise your fingers in ways better than even a Finger-Size™. That's a sound benefit anyhow you measure it.
• 11 – You can work on developing that latent intellect of yours, since you get to tap into that memory of yours so deeply entrenched with long-forgotten, best remembered information as it pertains to spelling and punctuating properly.
• 12 – When push comes to shove, you can brag about being the only one on the block that still owns and uses one. It's especially helpful when flirting with the widow down the street, since she'll likely find such a throwback intriguing.
• 13 – With a manual typewriter, there's no need to learn how to use a mouse.
• 14 – They end each line with a sound, resounding DING!

Whether you're looking for a typewriter, a carbon-pounding method of documenting your data, or just trying to be the coolest entrepreneur on the block, a manual typewriter isn't just the cat's meow, it's the bee's knees and the dog's day in the sun as well.