How to pay bills

I FOUND it extremely amusing when I read one of the documents from the organisation on modes of bill payments. I thought the method to pay bills and fines is similar almost everywhere in this world. You either send by cheque, pay at the ATMs, banks, online payment, post offices or convenience stores... and in some countries, the AXS machine.

But the information I received went a few steps further. Lemme break it down for the heck of it and since I've already gone this far in documenting almost everything one has gotta do when one decides to uproot to Japan.

1) You'll receive a bill from either the gas, water, electricity, phone etc with a bar code on it.

2) Some mobile phone companies will automatically deduct the amount from your bank account every month. So there's no need to do anything about the bill. Some bills may only be paid at a post office or at a bank. This is dependent on the area you live in.

3) Note the convenience store symbols on your bill to show which stores you'll be able to pay at. Most bills are payable at Lawson, Circle K, Sunkus, Family Mart, Daily Yamazaki etc.

4) To make payments, take the bar coded bills to any of the listed convenience stores. The bill will be scanned and you'll be charged accordingly.

5) The store clerk will stamp the paper statements and keep a portion of the statement. The other portion will be returned to you. Keep it as proof of payment.

FIN. 

*ugh... somehow posting this one makes me feel that my brain degenerated ...*