From: "Phil Payne" 

"Monte Davis"  wrote in message
news:11mvc21v4qb75g7dlf4877ie4najoqc9pa{at}4ax.com...
> Cited in George Dyson's wonderful _Darwin Among the Machines_:
>
> The peak year for punched-card use in the US was 1967.
>
> 200 billion cards.
>
> That's 500,000 TONS of cards.

At Barclaycard in Northampton we were using (and mailing to customers)
around 30 million a month.

Most of them went through machines around 8 to 10 times.  You needed ear
protection in the machine room.  The fibres in the air were carcinogenic
and those using fresh cards wore facemasks.

There were 2,000 in a box.

You had to get through the punch room (about 200 girls) to the card store.
Young male operators making that run were in danger of returning with part
or all of their clothing missing.

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