Post Office Decline

I know I hate new technology too much but much of it is mindless, anti intellectual and destructive. Well, the latest assault, indirect though it may be, on the good old, by the awful new, is the threat to the time honored national Post Office. Electronic communication is killing the Post Office as more people shift to the informal method of electronic communication or the faster business communication e mail, offers. The U.S Post Office continues to lose billions of dollars because of bloated labor contracts that it must pay for it's huge work staff for and the continual decrease in people paying for traditional post office services.

I still use the post office for most communication, but finding one to go to now is getting harder as more and more are closed by the Post Office in an attempt to operate more efficiently. And now the Post Office has announced that it is going to move quickly to close 252 of the 461 current mail processing centers, and that it will slow first-class delivery next spring. The Post Office cites steadily declining mail volume (volume of first class mail in 2020 is expected to be only one half of what it was in 2000). This means there will be less timely delivery of mail and, hence, more people likely to stop using what has become a "slow" service when compared to the electronic counterparts. Average delivery time for delivery of a letter within the country will increase by one or two days after the processing centers are closed.

The cuts are part of $3 billion in reductions aimed at helping the Post Office avert bankruptcy next year. It would virtually eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day, a change in first-class delivery standards that people won't like. Everyday users of first-class mail will see delays of one or two days, including those who pay bills by check, send birthday cards, write letters, or receive prescription drugs or Netflix DVDs by mail. Speed of delivery is very important in this impatient age of humanity. No doubt it will make many turn to electronic mail instead.

A nation can't survive without a postal system, so if this one fails private companies like Fed Ex would pick up some of the services (those from which it can make money). Yet, I wonder if the long lost art of letter writing and sending by post would disappear forever. It makes me shudder to think that intelligent, thoughtful letters would disappear in favor of the LOL mentality of texting or the grammar and usage from Hell that we experience in many E mails we receive. I think the world will be a much less pleasant place without the option of a postal delivery system.

Too, there is a unique social value of post offices in the sheer diversity and range of services provided that distinguishes them from other (private) retailers. The Post Office is also highly valued and trusted compared to other retailers in disadvantaged communities (rural areas cut off from modernity). I wrote "trusted" here, as in would you trust the post office more or less than FED Ex? I see the post office like the old barber shop, the corner bakery, the Town center and other time worn institutions that make life a little simpler and more pleasant. Budgets and operating efficiency are important today, but the Post Office is like our baby. It needs our attention and love at all costs.