Electronic filing has many advantages over filing on paper via mail or express delivery services, including:  a dramatic increase in the speed with which applications can be filed; the ability to file 24 hours a day, seven days a week, making it possible to receive a filing date 1) on days the Office is officially closed; and 2) extending the time for filing on any given day up until midnight Eastern Standard Time.  (NOTE: Trademark applications filed by Express Mail no longer receive the date of deposit with the United States Postal Service as a filing date, whereas documents filed electronically receive a filing date as of the date the Office receives the transmission); virtually instantaneous provision of filing receipt and serial number;  flexibility in payment options- either credit card, deposit account or (after October 2001), Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) or E-Check; saving a great deal of money on postage and fax charges and/or courier delivery costs, because electronic applications are created, reviewed and filed electronically using the internet; more accurate filing receipt information because it is transferred directly from the database containing the information entered by the applicant and does not have to be entered again manually at the USPTO; more efficient review of the applications because they are in a standard format recommended by the USPTO; and faster review of applications by an examining attorney or paralegal; and automatic confirmation in TRAM/TARR of receipt of all submissions, helping to avoid abandonment.