Watching my daughter walk out to the mailbox this weekend, I asked myself: why? Ben Franklin started the United States Postal Service over two-hundred years ago. Today it has an operating budget of $79 billion, and is the second largest employer in the US. And according to Wiki, they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 260,000 vehicles and consume over 800 million gallons of gasoline per year. But is all this still necessary?
You have to ask: how much of that mail is really needed? It’s mostly bills and junk mail, right? But the bills can be paid electronically, and we could save a few forests by getting rid of the frigging junk mail. Most magazines and newspapers are online now. Packages are delivered by Fedex and UPS. And speaking for myself, the most exciting thing about going to the mailbox is the monthy 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath, and Beyond; but to be honest I’d prefer they keep their coupon and just drop their prices.
Wake up, America. I have great respect for our postal workers, but it’s time to make the tough decisions: let’s kill the post office. Send me an email instead.