I cannot imagine not having the U.S. Postal Service. It has been struggling for several years now. Postage for a standard letter stamp in 1960 cost only $.04. Today it costs $.55 – nearly fourteen times the cost sixty years ago. In spite of the frequent rate increases, USPS has yet to get back on its feet. I love stamps. I am not a stamp collector, but I like to buy unique stamps to post my letters with, rather than using the plain ones that depict only the American flag. Over the years, I have purchased wild flower, frog, bird, and butterfly stamps; as well as the special ones that are created for the holidays. It gives my letters a special touch, which is especially nice if you are mailing someone a card.
I have often marveled at how dependable the postal service is – and how fast. I could mail a letter to someone in the same town as me and they would receive it the next day, or mail it across the country and it would arrive in as little as two days. This is remarkable when a hundred years or more earlier, it could take several days or weeks for mail to travel to its destination. There have been only a very few times in my life that I had something I had mailed get lost, which is a pretty impressive track record. It was always delightful to open the mailbox and find a letter from a loved one or a friend. The house I owned while raising my three daughters had the mail slot next to the front door, so I never had to walk out to my mailbox in inclimate weather. I loved that! However, with increases in population, private mailboxes have been replaced with community boxes, in a central location, in the newer subdivisions.
Over time, as long distance phone calls became more affordable, letters became fewer and farther in between. We began to see a stream of junk mail and advertisements, and the ubiquitous “you are pre-approved” credit applications. Gone are the days when you walked to your mailbox with a sense of anticipation, hoping for a letter from a friend. Today, we find only a handful of weekly ads, most of which end up in the trash.
I once took a test when I was in my early twenties, that was required in order to become a postal service employee. I could not pass the test. They did not hire just anybody; they hired only those who had the necessary qualities to deliver large volumes of mail to the correct address, consistently and on time. I thought that the postal carriers who could actually walk from house to house, or business to business, to deliver mail, had one of the best jobs around. Their uniforms even included shorts for the hot, summer months. It probably was not much fun; however, whenever it was snowing with freezing temperatures and wind.
The days of the U.S. Postal Service may be numbered. Its future will be very different, if it manages to stay in existence. It has been in operation for more than two centuries. I for one, will be sad to see it go. I enjoy the ability to send emails, to text message, and to FaceTime, but the individual personality that goes into the writing and receiving of a handwritten letter, is irreplaceable.
