Sharing Its Woes
In case anybody didn’t already realize it, these are perilous times for the U.S. Postal Service. And the USPS decided to share its woes with the general public
Earlier this month, Stephen Kearney, USPS senior vice president of customer relations, told National Public Radio all about how mail volume has dropped to levels not seen since the Great Depression and that its revenue picture doesn’t look too good for 2009 either, despite its attempts at aggressive cost-cutting.
And, of course rate hikes, which for the mailing industry are as inevitable as death and taxes, (although they’re generally not as bad as they used to be unless you’re a cataloger) are looming in a little while.
Pretty much everybody in our industry knows why mail is declining: the ever-increasing popularity and relative cheapness (and mindlessness) of e-mail and the like, combined with the dropoff in mailings from banks, credit card marketers and other financial institutions.
The do-not-mail movement doesn’t help either.
Like every other business right now, the USPS is struggling to survive, having lost $2.8 billion last year as private operators chomp at the bit to take some (if not all) of that business away–whether they admit it or not.
But here’s another way to look at the situation:
While instantaneous most of the time, all electronic forms of communication have the potential to break down and not always work. A recent item in Direct Newsline reported that many holiday shoppers walked away from their online purchases because the systems were too slow, crashed too often or were otherwise inaccessible.
Snail mail, as the e-marketers sneeringly like to call it, may be slow but 99.9 times out of 100 it gets delivered.
And unless society becomes totally illiterate and simple-minded, there’ll still be a need to communicate concepts and ideas too complex to be addressed in e-mails or text messages.
At the same time, a little reality check is called for.
It’s doubtful people will ever flock back to writing letters the way they used to, when e-mail and instant messaging have become so standard. And it’s clearly beyond the power of the USPS to stem the tide of the e-world.
But as Kearney pointed out to NPR, people have been predicting the death of the USPS ever since the invention of the telegraph.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I used to use snail mail til I found out how they were using their monies for expensive holiday meetings out of country. I immediately stopped any and all communications using the US Postal service. I am angry about their promises of this is the last raise forever, oh we need a couple more cents. I am fed up. I send no Christmas cards any more and I pay my bills by phone. I call family and friends. The us postal service can go to H@#$. And so can UPS. After the last time I sent something by UPS, I went into shock. After that, I drove the 2000miles and hauled in my car. Got a vacation, visited family and cost me nothing to bring it all home
January 14th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I perfectly agree. The computers go disfunctional,everybody goes braindead because nobody ca do manual operations. Ialso prefer the hardcopy.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
From John Quincy Adams to Peyton Manning, American heroes recognize the value of the handwritten word. A letter can be read over and over, shared with friends and family, and preserved to hold memories long after the passing of the people involved. As a postal employee, I try to find as many ways as possible to encourage the support of the USPS . Being an example and mailing cards and letters (cheap— only $ .42 cents!), requesting USPS shipping when ordering online, paying my bills via the mail are just a few of the solutions. Giving booklets of stamps and greeting cards to seniors or young children are always welcome gifts. You don’t have to be a USPS employee to appreciate the heroes that deliver your mail in every kind of weather, and are an integral part of peoples lives in every community across the US, but it helps!