Jade Keller

Hard economic times hit everywhere, even institutions that have been around so long, you take them for granted. The U.S. Postal Service has been such a pervasive and fundamental institution in U.S. history, it is hard to imagine life without it. It connected Americans where there weren’t even roads, it connected us when we were barely a nation, and it connects us now when we’re the leader of the free world.

But it is in trouble. Delivering mail is becoming too costly an operation in tough times, when much of communication exists online and over cell phones. Legislators and postmasters are struggling to find ways to cut back costs: whether it is cutting off Saturday deliveries, shutting down branches, or increasing the services provided at post offices to increase customer traffic. But it is far from clear whether the postal service can weather this storm, and many are now wondering: will it survive? If it doesn’t survive, would private companies like FedEx be able to pick up the slack?

It is true much of postal service is outdated. How often do we get personal mail in the mailbox these days, aside from products ordered online? More often than not, it’s just junk mail and advertisements that nobody reads and everybody throws away. A lot of the rest is bills and updates that could just as easily be delivered online (and probably already is in some cases). That’s an enormous cost both financially in terms of printing and mailing, and environmentally in wasted paper and gas resources to deliver.

I can’t help thinking what the repercussions might be if the postal service no longer existed. I suppose it depends on the extent to which private companies could begin doing regular deliveries to people. But what would happen to industries like stationary? Would they die out too? Would brides send wedding invitations FedEx or would it all be Evite? Would thank you cards become thank you emails? Would stamps become a quaint relic of the past, vintage memories plastered as art on the wall rather than currency on a letter? Maybe we should all be saving our stamps for future posterity. What about the older generation who is not online, or poorer segments who can’t afford internet connections at home? True, those populations are dwindling, but they still exist. Would they become even more marginalized?

I highly doubt mailing and shipping will go away entirely. There will always be a way, because we will always have products needing delivery and we will always need some level of physical inter-connectedness. But if the postal service dies, I wonder what changes the death of such an institution will precipitate in our culture and daily lives.