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Carbon copy was an old method of making instant copies of typed or handwritten documents using carbon paper. It had drawbacks such as messiness, waste, and security issues. Today, it is rarely used due to affordable copiers and carbonless paper. However, its legacy lives on through the initials “cc” used in correspondence and email headers.
The term carbon copy refers to an obsolete method of producing an instant copy of a typed or handwritten document. By sandwiching a sheet of carbon paper between two documents, whatever was typed or written on the top sheet transferred to the bottom sheet thanks to the waxy carbon between them being imprinted on the underlying paper.
A carbon copy was the easiest way to create a duplicate contract, application, sales receipt, or other note. However, it had its drawbacks. Carbon paper was messy, and making more than one copy meant placing additional carbon sheets between successive sheets of paper. Also, after the carbon sheet was used once, it was generally thrown away, resulting in a lot of waste. Reusing carbon paper may cause poor copies.
Another drawback of a carbon copy was that the carbon sheet itself became a duplicate of the material transferred in reverse, looking at the sheet carbon side up. By holding the paper to the light and reading through the reverse, the transfer could easily be read. This was especially problematic for government agencies dealing with sensitive information, but it also became a problem when credit cards were used in point-of-sale transactions. Numbers and signatures have been stolen so often that it has become a habit for customers to ask for the carbon sheet back. Electronic credit card machines eventually took the place of paper receipts, eliminating the need for carbon copies at points of sale.
Today a carbon copy is rarely used. Once expensive copiers have become affordable and ubiquitous, integrated into smaller office machines. In cases where a carbon copy might still be useful, such as for field repairers, carbonless paper produced with chemical processes provides copies without the intervention of carbonized sheets. An example can be seen in personal checkbooks that create a carbon copy without carbon paper.
Perhaps strangely, the lasting legacy of the carbon copy is its initials: cc These are still used at the end of correspondence to indicate when copies are archived or forwarded to other parties. In email headers, the “cc” field is used to insert a second recipient in order to send him a “carbon copy” of the original email.
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