Sorry for so short a response before... just popped in and got handed another supsense, so just left it at that.
I've found that in my position, and in fact, in my company, most of the in-boxes are used only for routine mail from outside sources and that anything that is internal is placed on your desk or your chair, or directly in your hands. I think it's a culture thing, that this company has decided that what they perceive as unimportant mail goes in your in-box, and anything of importance would never be handled if it was also placed there, so it must be put where it will get your immediate attention. The favorite here, if you're not at your desk, is in your chair, as you can't fail to see it when you return. The proble? I've had 3-4 "priority" items left in my chair, and while working on a higher priority item, I didn't flip through all the pages as they appeared all 1 item... Only later did I discover that there were several different ones. If they had each placed them (with a gem clip or in a folder, complete with routing slip --as we are supposed to do) in my in-box, then I would have known there were several and addressed each of them (or communicated my prior priority to them to ensure that someone else is lined up to take care of theirs). After 2 years, I gave up the fight and did away with my in-box and now have just accepted the fact that if I'm out for any reason (be it 5 minutes or 5 days) anything for me will be left in my chair. But at least I did finally get them to understand the importance of putting a routing slip on it, so that I can have some instructions from the sender and delineate between jobs.
I would love to have an in-box again, but knowing that this entire company runs without one really, I can't expect to ever get one back. Not sure if I'll know what to do with one if I get out of this company.
CountriGal
Peer Moderator 
