There are two things that I used to depend on, that I rarely use these days...snail mail, otherwise known as stuff that I get from my mailman and printed checks to pay my bills.
Junk mail...that stuff you are handed by the mailman, but throw away without opening....is now spam. Hundreds and hundreds of junk mail letters daily overload my email inbox. I used to get junk mail from churches in Oklahoma addressed to my grandmother, who died back in 1984. These used to come several times per week. I have received only one in the past two years. Some junk mail was fun to read..but who has time to spend a few minutes lounging on the porch reading junk mail from Oklahoma these days.
Remember going on vacation and running to the drug store to buy postcards to send to the folks at home? Do they still make postcards?
I used to have to buy stamps and international postage in order to submit query letters and article and book proposals. Now I do this at the touch of a keyboard. No postage necessary.
The rise of the internet means, I never see paper checks or written material at all, unless it is election campaign time...not for junk mail...not for payroll checks...not for query letters, acceptance letters or rejection letters...not for paying my bills.... I do that online, too, along with my banking.
I love writing letters, however they only happen via email these days and not very often. The point of writing a letter is to get one back. Most of my friends, don't write letters anymore either.
Last year, I got exactly one Christmas card via snail mail and that was from my mother who refuses to even look at a computer or mobile cell phone to do anything. She is allowed...she is 82 years old and computers and cell phones didn't exist when she was born and she's not about to let them enter her calm now.
I still get hundreds of cards...just via email. Last year was the first year that I didn't send Christmas cards via snail, but that was because my economy was suffering right along with everyone else's.
Face it...it is cheaper to send an e-card rather than go buy a paper card at the Hallmark store. I still like sending paper cards and letters. Guess I'm just giving into the times.
The only reason I know the mailman has come is when he steps on my porch, my three, four legged door bells and personal guardians go crazy. They really, really don't like that postal uniform and try to tear down the door when he shows up in those cute little shorts and sun helmet.
I used to know my mailman by name and his time of arrival. I used to give out Christmas gifts to my mail carrier. My dogs rarely barked because they knew him to be a friend rather than a stranger trying to get into my house. The last time I tipped my mailman, the wrong one picked it up and never passed it on...hence my generosity never reached the person for whom it was intended.
I've stopped that...unless I can hand it to the intended mail carrier personally given the every changing delivery times.
I've long thought that the government should do away with snail mail...stop sending campaign literature and requests for donations via the US postal service. Government agencies say they are going paperless, however, lately I've been inundated with government paper in triplicate rather than duplicate.....seems the feds are the only ones still feeding the dinosaur....feeding him less often..but in bigger meals.
So maybe it's time to kill this dinosaur, ya think?
Save some money...hell...save lots of money....works for my budget.
The only problem that I see is all those people who will be put out of work. The post office used to be the one place that Black people could get a good paying job.The auto industry was the other place Blacks made money. It was the springboard for us to jump into the middle class, enabling us to buy homes in the suburbs and get a taste of the American dream.
Maybe the post office could rethink its operation and train its staff to transfer all services to the internet, the same way banks have taken banking to the world wide web.
It's a thought.
Maybe in a few years.....since Congress will have to study the matter first....we can all take down our mailbox on the front porch. Maybe in the process, Congress can give the go ahead to make America a wifi hotspot...hook everyone up the internet, in order to keep daily communications going for all the population instead of just those who can buy computers.
Time to kill the dinosaur...put it out of it's misery.
Progress!
PS.....Maybe after the dino dies... we will also no longer need a chief executive officer who makes bonuses the size of which makes Wall Street honchos envious...ya think?
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