Snail mail may be slow but it’s still direct.

One day will I hear, "Grandma, what's this?"

Is anything fragile, liquid, perishable or potentially dangerous? Actually, yes. It’s called the United States Postal Service. The mantra you hear from the clerk or postmaster with each visit to your local post office is indeed a mouthful. It’s also predictable, almost melodic, and sometimes even a humorous tagline of sorts if he who is reciting trips on the words. (Trying saying it a few hundred times each day and you too shall trip.) But now, the very words asked to clear a package, are ironically labeling the system itself, emphasis on the fragile and perishable parts and quite possibly, potentially dangerous to those whose jobs could be lost.

Way over 200 years ago, the concept of the USPS first began.  It was a time of freedom. We were a nation bound together by a system of postal roads and offices. A free flow of information between people and government. Sending a message from point A to point B was unprecedented. This was big.

Flash forward to today when people still need to get their message from A to B. In fact, they need to do so more frequently and with lightening speed. Enter emails.

So, a system that used to be associated with the Pony Express is now mockingly called Snail Mail. Our association with the USPS has gone from speedsters to champions of sluggishness. Yes, we’re in a serious paradigm shift. And yes, the trajectory of our messages has changed and while that’s wildly exciting, it makes me sad. Is the post office, a system I’ve grown up with and relied on, a system that delivers many of my clients’ promotional materials, about to become obsolete?

If so, I have to rethink a few things.

On a personal level, how will I send thank you notes to my 82-year-old aunt in Florida who doesn’t have email? How will I sneak a postcard to my husband and daughter when we’re on vacation? (Thanks for the best time ever! I write on cards with Grand Canyon sunsets and beach scenes, secretly popping them in the mail so it’s waiting for them when we return home.) What about my taste buds? After years of toughing it out, will they lose the ability to lick yucky envelopes closed? And how about Santa? Are kids going to start texting the North Pole? What reason will I have to walk down the driveway in anticipation of what could be there in that little black box with the red flag that lifts up and down? I can hear the squeaky springs of the latch opening and closing right now by my postal carrier, Stan. (Stan, wait! What did I get?)

On a professional level, what about direct mail? What about all those packages and postcards, self-mailers and catalogs that still find their way into my mailbox? Into your mailbox? Yes, they are dwindling, but that’s what makes them stand out even more these days.  Direct mail just doesn’t work without the mail part.

In January 2012, the price of a stamp is going to be raised from 44 to 45 cents. Yes, I know emails are free, but you can’t hold them in your hand. You can’t yank them out of your physical mailbox, tear open the envelope, and delve into the contents. Maybe it was a greeting card from your old college roommate. Maybe it was a check. Okay, maybe it was – dare I use the term – junk mail – but so what. Maybe it enticed you, interested you, targeted you in a way that positively impacted your life.

Here’s a call to action to consider. In between your flurry of emails and reading this electronic post, put something in the mail this week. (Even if it’s a letter to me to tell me to bug off.) Together, we can change the world.  Or at least help the USPS be like a stamp and stick.

Comments

[Maria]

Great post! I remember the joy I used to feel when my mom would say, "Maria, there's a letter for you." It was always a thrill to see something there for me. Even today, I love getting a card or note (nobody seems to write letters anymore) instead of bills. I'm with you--I will miss the mail if it goes away! BTW your card is in the mail. :)