I suppose an industry that is getting its ass kicked by the Internet would feel that way.
"Pleasing Mr. Postman; In digital age, still savoring pen, paper, and stamp" August 27, 2011|By Anna Marden, Globe Correspondent
Phoebe Sexton received so much mail on her 27th birthday, the postman couldn’t fit it in her mailbox. A 2006 graduate of Boston University, Sexton moved to Dallas just a few days before her birthday last year. But because she wasn’t with her friends to celebrate, she wanted the next best thing - for them to send gifts, cards, and letters through the Postal Service.
“I called it my mail-order birthday, and I posted on Facebook and e-mailed. I let everyone know I’d really like to get any sort of mail,’’ said Sexton, who sends lots of postcards through the mail herself. “Oh my goodness, the response was insane… . I had 80 people respond - I think 21 of the 50 states were represented, and five continents.’’
We live in an age when e-mails, texts, and instant messages dominate communication - so much so that the US Postal Service is targeting 3,600 branches for possible closure over the next year because of dwindling revenue. The amount of first-class mail has declined every year since 2005 - last year it fell 6.6 percent, according to the service.
“One of the main contributors to the decline was a 3.1 billion piece reduction in first-class … letters and cards that was driven in part by continuing electronic diversion of mail,’’ the Postal Service said in its 2010 Household Diary Study.
Yet some young people steadfastly participate in the practice of sending letters via snail mail. While it may be quicker and easier to dash off an e-mail or text message, some folks who grew up in the digital age say they prefer the more tangible human connections and emotions that come from a handwritten note sent through the mail....
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Might have to wait a bit for delivery:
"Postal Service considers 120,000 layoffs" August 12, 2011|Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The financially strapped US Postal Service is considering cutting as many as 120,000 jobs.
Facing a second year of losses totaling $8 billion or more, the agency also wants to pull its workers out of the retirement and health benefits plans covering federal workers and set up its own benefit systems. Congressional approval would be needed for either step, and both could be expected to face severe opposition from postal unions, which have contracts that ban layoffs....
The best thing government ever came up with and it's a failure.
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