Remember that paperless society everyone was talking about back when the Internet seemed new and nifty?

It turns out people still want the option of carrying with them the things they read, whether they are magazines, books or their own company newsletters.

That's something Florida Power & Light Co. learned when it surveyed employees two months ago about how they prefer to receive company news. Although workers indicated they want more online information, they said their favorite thing to read is FPL's monthly printed newsletter: fyi plus.

It's delivered to the work stations of each employee of the electric utility and its Juno Beach-based holding company, FPL Group Inc. -- reaching 3,861 workers in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties alone. The publication is also made available online, as are FPL's weekly faxed and e-mailed employee communications and its quarterly magazine, FPL Today.

"It's a cultural thing to change to reading something online," said Roger Beck, FPL's internal communications manager. "There are still a lot of people who want to hold it in their hands."

Susan Halker, human resources manager for FPL, said she values each of the company's publications, but favors FPL Today, which is sent to the home, as her most complete source of information.

"You can read it more leisurely," said Halker, who works in Juno Beach. "It's got a variety of stories and information."

Halker also looks forward to the Monday morning communiqués FPL sends out by fax and e-mail.

"I typically look for it first thing when I come in on Monday," she said. "It's very quick and easy to read."

To be sure, the Internet has allowed businesses to expand the amount of information they deliver and improve the timeliness of delivery, but few if any are abandoning paper altogether.

Instead, they are using online delivery simply to give workers another option for receiving news.

Employees of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals can find the company's monthly newsletter, Immune Response, in their mailboxes as well as on Nabi's internal Web site.

"We've got it in both places," said Mark Soufleris, spokesman for Nabi, which employs 650, including about 200 at its Boca Raton headquarters.

Employee preferences aside, there are even more practical reasons for businesses to continue publishing newsletters on paper.

For example, many companies, including U.S. Sugar Corp., FPL and Office Depot Inc., have workers who don't always have access to a computer because they work in the field or in warehouses.

"A lot of our employees are at remote locations -- they are not sitting at a desk or a computer terminal," said Judy Sanchez, a U.S. Sugar spokeswoman.

The Clewiston-based company, which has about 3,000 employees, prints its bimonthly newsletter, USSC Today, and posts it on both its internal and external Web sites.

"In our business, there is still a need for printed publications," Sanchez said.

That's true of business-related newsletters in general.

LRP Publications Inc., among the largest newsletter publishers in the nation, produces more than 90 business- and education-related newsletters. Although the company provides online newsletters and maintains a number of custom Web sites and private online databases for companies, most of its clients want to receive their newsletters on paper.

"We've found that a very small percentage wants them electronically," said Ken Kahn, president of LRP, which employs about 200 at its Palm Beach Gardens headquarters.

"I think part of it is the ability to take it with you," Kahn said. "Most of our material is need-to-know type of information, and if somebody is traveling or commuting and stuffing it in their briefcase at night, it's a lot easier to read than electronically."

At the same time that companies have supplemented the number of ways employees can read their newsletters in recent years, they've also changed the content.

Most are doing more to keep their employees informed on substantive issues, said Paul Swift, editor and publisher of Rhinebeck, N.Y.-based The Newsletter on Newsletters.

"The old traditional president's letter has gotten more meaty," he said.

That change is partly a reaction to the early '90s cutbacks that left many employees learning of layoffs from their local newspaper instead of from their employer, Swift said.

Indeed, several local companies are using their employee publications to invite workers to ask about rumors circulating through the office.

For example, U.S. Sugar's newsletter has a section called "You Asked for It...," which answers questions from employees.

In the May/June issue, a worker submitted this question: "There are rumors that we are selling Southern Gardens Citrus. Is it true?" An executive answered: "These rumors were not true a year ago, and they are not true now."

Similarly, Nabi and Delray Beach-based Office Depot both feature question-and-answer sections in their employee publications. Office Depot eliminated its business sales division newsletter this year and folded it into its new 40-page, monthly magazine, WYN2K (which stands for "what you need to know").

The magazine, launched in January, goes to each of Office Depot's 45,000 employees worldwide, including the 2,600 at its Delray Beach headquarters.

"Rather than have all these divisional newsletters, it has turned into one communications vehicle," editor Mary Wong said.

Although these publications may have become more "meaty" over the years, they have not abandoned the down-home content many find appealing.

Nabi invites workers to write about out-of-the-ordinary vacations in a section called, "Employee Adventure." And U.S. Sugar's newsletter includes a feature called "Sweet Stuff," which showcases employees' accomplishments.

That's proof that the traditional company newsletter can still serve a dual role: communicator and morale booster. In addition, the beauty of the newsletter is that it's a "me-to-you medium," Swift said.

That's why, Swift said, many people aren't interested in searching for the publication on their computer.

"That's them going to it, instead of it coming to them. At least for the foreseeable future, the print newsletter still has a place."