Serving These Communities

Covering the Heart of Hamilton County Since 1983

Recently, Mike had to do something he hated and that was to raise the price of a mail subscription because of an increase in postal rates. That subject got me to thinking about how postal service has changed over the years.

I grew up in a time when there were two mail deliveries a day. That's right. The routes were short enough that a carrier could go around twice in one day. We didn't have curbside mailboxes then, either, except in rural areas. There were no motorized vehicles for the carriers to cover the routes. They used foot power. Most mail boxes were hung right  by the front door of the house. The resident could just reach out through the door and get the mail, regardless of the weather.

I can remember a one cent postcard that could be purchased at the post office. First class mail was three cents. If you wanted the mail to go by air, you bought an air mail stamp. Then the post office made sure that mail got onto a plane going to that destination.

Of course, now with Internet e-mail, hardly anyone writes a letter. Most mail, today, consists of bills or junk. Recently, first class mail went up to forty one cents. Yet, I read that the post office department is having a money problem. Apparently, deep with the bowels of Washington, some committee is trying to figure out how to reduce costs. One suggestion is to eliminate Saturday delivery, which, I guess, wouldn't be too bad for most people. However, one suggestion that I read about is to completely eliminate home delivery. We would all have to have a box at our post office and go and pick up our mail. This would not be acceptable to most people First of all, what about those people who can't get to the post office either because of limited transportation or have a handicap? Probably the only good side of that suggestion is that advertisers would pretty much quit  sending their junk mail.

More and more businesses are trying to encourage customers to pay bills electronically, using computers and the Internet. Personally, I am not a fan of that idea. There is too much risk involved  in my estimation.

Let's hope a more sensible solution comes out of these "experts."

To me, it is still fun to get greeting cards in the mail, but I am not inclined to go to the post office to get my mail. Sure, I use the Internet to correspond with family. It's quick and easy. Yet, I have, at Christmas time especially, inserted a letter in the Christmas card. Writing a letter is not difficult. I guess getting it in the mail is the hard part.

Keep in mind that our Constitution clearly spells out one responsibility of the Congress is to establish post offices and post roads. However it does not say home delivery is required. All of this bears close watching. It will be interesting to see what is finally adopted as a cost-cutting measure. Will mail delivery be a thing of the past? Will postal services be used in future years, given the growth of electronic mail. My suggestion is to hold onto your purses and wallets. When Congress gets busy, you can count on more taxes or higher postal rates.

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