The Rise and Fall of the Postal Empire

(Maybe a cute picture of a puppy might make this blog more popular...)

The news this week that the US Postal Service is 'studying' whether to shut down a few hundred post office locations is both a little sad and, at the same time, totally predictable. This is on top of the rumors that they will cut back to only delivering mail five days a week and the steadily-increasing price of the much-maligned postage stamp.

Well, one big reason why I don't like to mail things is that I never know how much it really costs. In the past, I would put on whatever 35-to-40-something-cent stamp I had lying around, jam on a bunch of 1-cent stamps, and hope that the bill did not come back 'Return to Sender'. Now, I sign up for every automatic payment service available, buy books of Forever stamps for cheaper at Costco (and how that is legal, I don't know, but I will gladly look past it), and try to buy all my presents online so they can be shipped directly to the recipients.

Wrapping paper and greeting cards are way overrated.

Have you actually been to the post office recently? You can choose from a semantic smorgasbord of: express mail, first-class delivery, priority delivery, delivery confirmation... It's like at McDonald's - the menu choices never change, but I always get more confused than I should be by looking at them. I usually end up by slamming down the letter and stating 'Just get it there as fast as possible without me having to make any extra effort than I already have to even be here'. (There must be a key on the post office registers marked "Suck-ah!" just for me.)

In a highly unscientific, but easy-to-conduct, poll (the black plastic mailbox in front of our house), I would estimate that easily 65%-70% of our incoming mail consists of unsolicited and unwanted ads, flyers, and catalogs. (This is why the task of emptying the mailbox is followed directly by a trip to the recycle bin.) I've got to believe that these catalog companies either have absolutely no clue as to who buys their products, or they are really, really desperate to make a sale. For example, I have not bought anything from any catalog in a few years - yet so far this week, Sports Authority, Williams-Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, Design Toscano, The Container Store, Oriental Trading Company, Chiasso, and Flor all hoped that with this mailing, I would break the streak.

Now, this high percentage of junk mail also speaks to the fact that I don't receive many actual personal letters because I, in fact, don't send out any letters myself. Some of the many reasons are: I really don't do anything that interesting I feel anyone wants to read about; if something magical does happen, I can send e-mails that will be received immediately (if less than enthusiastically); and, quite frankly, my hand starts cramping up if I write anything longer than my signature. I think the art of letter-writing is definitely on the decline, thanks to Twitter, e-mail, and far too many people (like me) in the Information Technology field. I know that there are shops like Papyrus that must do well enough to stay in business, but I suspect people are buying lovey-dovey greeting cards or Kindergarten graduation party invitations instead of blank stationary.

Lest you think I am too overboard in this posting, I am only merely suggesting a more critical-thinking approach on how you send your mail - not an outright boycott. I remember what happened to Kramer on the "Seinfeld" show...