Going Postal

The origins of the Postal Service hail back to 1692, when King William and Queen Mary ordained a post office scheme for the royal colonies. The United States Post Office was created by the Continental Congress in 1775 under the direction of Benjamin Franklin.

Railway mail service was begun in 1832 although it was not until 1869 that it became institutionalized as the Railway Mail Service. The story of the mail sorters on the rail cars sorting 600 pieces of mail per minute, often only seconds before some of it was to be delivered at the next station is legendary. Air Mail Service was established in 1918 and existed until 1975 domestically, and 1995 internationally, becoming obsolete in that air service was a given.

The current United States Postal Service is the third largest employer behind the Department of Defense and WalMart. It employs 760,000 employees, operates 260,00 vehicles and 32,741 post offices and locations. It is estimated that the cost to deliver your mail costs $235 per year, per residence. The USPS is an independent agency of the Executive Branch of government, with special powers but it is not a corporation owned by the government. Still, it operates like one.

The long-awaited demise of the USPS seems closer than ever. The budget shortfalls are chronic and there is now talk of closing 1,000 facilities and yet again, raising rates. After the success of UPS and FedEx, it was considered only a matter of time until the USPS drifted off into obsolescence. In fact, the internet has had the biggest impact on the USPS as it saw a 22% decline in First Class Mail from 1998 to 2007. It doesn't take a math genius to see that if, as reported, it takes an additional $8 million to fuel their fleet for every penny that gasoline prices rise, the Postal Service bleeds red ink profusely in an environment like we've witnessed over the last year or so.

With the advent of email, scanned documents, legal papers sent by fax and the like, it truly is a mystery as to how long the USPS will be able to survive. It's clear that it won't in its current form. On any given day, the legitimate mail vs. the direct advertising that's stuffed in our mailboxes is a small percentage. This will likely only increase as businesses must advertise, and they sure aren't doing it in print or other local media. The Economist reports that advertising revenues have fallen so precipitously that many magazines and newspapers are hanging on by their fingernails. Magazine ads will be down 18.3% this year while newspaper advertising will be off a stunning 26.5%. Radio ads are off 21.8%. This portends more direct mail advertising and perhaps a partial reprieve for the USPS.

With the handwriting on the proverbial wall, however, it tells of coming limitations in service offered by the USPS and undoubtedly, increases in postage rates. The world wide web now offers a plethora of services from greeting cards and invitations, to novel venues that give users instantaneous access to social discourse. There will, of course, be those graduation and wedding announcements that will be with us for at least until the baby boomers pass away. After that, the X and Y Generations will probably have invented a virtual notice that makes those obsolete as well.