The good, the bad, the ugly concerning snail mail’s demise
Each day as I work from my home office, it has always been a nice break to get outside and check to see what’s in the daily “snail mail,” usually brought by our faithful mail carrier around 2 p.m.
It occurred to me, in light of current news about the near demise of snail mail, that it might be interesting to think of it in terms of “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” So in no particular order or sense, here’s how I see the probably soon-to-end future of snail mail.
The Good: Email and other forms of electronic/digital/online communication are way easier and faster than mailing a letter. It’s a rare day when we mail a bill payment, or even go to a merchant/business to make a payment in person. Most of our bill paying is done online, or occasionally via telephone. Great time savings and ease of use compared to snail mail. And have you tried to buy a stamp or even find a mailbox lately? In our neighborhood, the nearest mailbox is almost a mile away. Our city’s main post office is actually slightly closer. Oh, and did I mention that the lack of direct mail marketing brochures and packets, political propaganda, etc., will NOT be missed in our household. Cutting down on the snail mail throw-away pile will be great!
The Bad: Heck, no one wants to see a traditional institution like the USPS go under. And that would also put a lot of people out of work, which is one more blow to our very-slowly-recovering economy. Besides, for actual communication between people on a one-to-one basis, a handwritten letter or thoughtfully selected card beats email hands down. And, of course, not writing letters is one more opportunity for everyone’s nearly illegible handwriting to get even worse.
The Ugly: Although electronic/digital “sp*m” is much easier to delete quickly or filter out than is snail mail sp*am, it probably will increase about a million-fold when snail mail is gone. And, of course, the more business dealings and purchases we make online when snail mail is gone, the more we open ourselves up to the risks of identity theft, fraud, scams, etc. Then there’s the increased risk of social embarrassment, alienating friends and family, and all that when we fire off hasty emails and regret later how quickly we click the “send” button. At least in the days of snail mail letters, we are less likely to rush with something we’ll later regret.
That’s it. The good, bad, and ugly of snail mail’s demise as I see it. How do you feel about it?
June 18th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I agree with you
But I’ve been trying to write more snail mail to my grandmother lately ’cause she kinda sucks on AIM. Not meaning anything mean but, ya know? xD
I hope snail mail doesn’t go away. I like getting stuffs in my box.