Not as in, ‘flipped over.’ As in, ‘rotated 180 degrees.’ Speaking as somebody who is cynical about bureaucracies, I suspect (contra BNet and probably Fark Geek) that there was a reason for this once; and it was probably even a legitimate reason. That it makes no sense now suggests that the reason has quietly been made obsolete (probably by technology)… only by then the people that instituted the policy were gone or not in a position to deal with the problem, and the new people only know that this is the way things were already done, and, well, there’s a form letter. So just fax the stupid thing the right way, OK?
We have an entire government full of these sorts of situations. Which is one key reason why a lot of us want to hack back what we’ve already got with a machete, not let it grow larger.