Companies and individuals are always looking to save money. Gas, food and other costs have skyrocketed recently (and will stay that way), so like it or not, we're all about to become extremely budget minded in just about every financial area of our lives. Well, unless you're a cash-heavy CEO, that is.

If you happen to live in Brooklyn, you may have heard of some condo and/or apartment owners receiving email or automated phone call alerts when FedEx, UPS or the USPS leaves a package for delivery with the building owner or superintendent.

These rather cold and impersonal reminders really haven't replaced the "human touch" sticky note on the door or mailbox that preceded them, but I would expect them to soon.

The automated and computerized "robocalls" can be annoying to some of us, but it's the wave of the future. Think of these as a virtual message board of sorts, kind of like your own community corkboard. With auto-dialers being able to dial and call thousands of phone numbers within a few seconds, the costs behind this technology must be ultra-low. Hence, they're being used more. Surprised? Read the first paragraph again, please.

But that's not all. Besides automated reminders for package deliveries and condo board meetings, these robocalls are being used for emergency notification systems and other forms of cheap but immediate communication methods. But we're all under the onslaught of advertising through our telephones, televisions, computers, buses, radio, billboards, sandwich trays -- I won't go on. Can we easily differentiate between these important, non-commercial messages and advertising? If not, an increasing number of us will just ignore all these automated voice calls and emails. That's just what the bean counters who need to reach a lot of people very fast and cheap do not want.