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More E-mail, Fewer Mailboxes

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the protected-monopolies-and-handy-excuses dept.

mikesd81 writes "Over at the Baltimore Sun there is an article about the post office removing those blue corner mail boxes because of e-mail. From the article: 'As more people send e-mails and pay bills online, the decline in first-class mail is forcing the U.S. Postal Service to remove tens of thousands of underused mailboxes from city streets.' The article goes on to say that the boxes were an American icon: 'You recognize them in Chicago, you recognize them in D.C., you recognize them in Florida, you recognize them in Montana,' Pope said. 'It's a piece of American iconography that has a wonderful history behind it.'" What the article forgets to mention: they're like an American TARDIS for children.

7 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. So what? by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When was the last time you saw a (pay) telephone booth?

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    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  2. Good luck... by jb.hl.com · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Good luck paying bills, sending letters or doing quite a few long distance things if your Internet connection fails, or there's some kind of Internet-killing catastrophe...

    Redundancy is sometimes a good thing.

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    By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
    1. Re:Good luck... by The+Good+Reverend · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Except that mail is also accepted at my home, at the post office, at the remaining blue boxes, many people's workplaces, etc. I won't worry.

    2. Re:Good luck... by The_Wilschon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Redundancy is also usually an expensive thing. They can take it out of your taxes, not mine.

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      SIGSEGV caught, terminating

      wait... not that kind of sig.
  3. No surprise... by TheGreatHegemon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you think about it, the first truly tech saavy generation (as a whole, not just a select few) is starting to come to maturation. Snail Mail will always have a roll, I think, for things that you can't give over e-mail (that handmade card or nice drawing by your grandkid), but it will definately become less and less prevalent.

  4. Remember the old fashioned mailboxes? by jhines · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The ones out in front of rural homes? That had a red flag that one would put up if to flag the delivery person that there is some outgoing mail?

    If you have a mailbox to receive mail, the letter carrier will take away outgoing mail.

    I had a package that was damaged in shipping, customer service sent me a pdf in email, to print out a return address label that the USPS would pick up and deliver to them postage due.

  5. Re:The Problem With Mail, IMO by nuggetman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Print it out, grab an envelope out of the drawer, stick a stamp on it (if you're not sure if it's gone up since your last mailing, stick 2 for good measure), put it in your outside mailbox and put the flag up.

    See? Much simpler when you don't make it a 5 step list process with extraneous steps like reminiscing.

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    ...and that's all there is to it.