USPS sent me an invitation to attend their Eastern Area Periodicals/Standard Focus Group Meeting ... an event slated for February 9 (which is today) on letterhead dated January 20 (which was last month) and with an RSVP date of February 3 (which was last week) - which arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
Hello.
Not to bash the service that I have relied so heavily upon for my career dollars over the past 20 plus years ... but when the venerable service touts the safety and security of "ye ole' snail mail" over e-mail (as in their "A refrigerator has never been hacked" commercial), they forgot to compare speed and timeliness.
And it's a shame, too, because I would have liked to attend that meeting.
Ironically, on the very same day that the aforementioned meeting invitation arrived in my box, USA Today runs a front page article entitled "Anything good in the mail?", with the more telling (albeit biting) subtitle that reads, "Postal service may be near its end as e-mailing grows and mailboxes just fill with 'junk.'" The paper's page one part of the story may spell all doom and gloom, but page two of the article gets all teary-eyed on us and spends a full five columns recounting the history of the U.S. Mail - from colonial times up to today, ending with a poignantly romantic story about a college student whose boyfriend was a medic in Afghanistan and sent her love letters in the mail. A quote in the article goes on to say, "'Nothing better may carry and connect sincere hearts...than a travel-worn letter with you name and address, handwritten.'"
Aw, so sweet.
So this year when I send my Valentine's Day cards and letters, I'll be sure to send them well in advance. Like tomorrow. Wait, is that enough time? (Counting on my fingers ... six days, minus Sunday, five days ...) Yeah, that should do. Least any hearts be broken. Unless, of course, I decide to e-mail or tweet my love and save the stamps. But a stamp is forever, if it's a forever stamp, that is.
Maybe I'll crash that USPS meeting today.
Nah.
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