Men in woolen shorts going door to door delivering catalogs
Written: Jun 30 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The occasional letter gets through, sometimes
Cons: Lots of mistakes, uneven delivery, vehicle for tons of junk
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| Profilewriter's Full Review: US Postal Service Standard Mail |
I don't have the Seinfeld quote just right, but whoever wrote the episode where Kramer attempted to put a halt to his mail deliveries permanently was dead on target.
I think Kramer could run for president on a "Stop the Mail!" platform. He might not pull enough votes to win, but I'll bet he could attract enough support to win an ambassadorship.
Mail, as the Seinfeld program's clever writers showed through a wonderful satire in which Wilfred Brimley played the Postmaster General, has become almost entirely irrelevant. I am even more disgusted and exhausted by the daily avalanche than Kramer was. He bricked up his mailbox, but I just keep shoveling the stuff into the garbage after if piles up for a few days on the front porch.
And boy does it pile up fast! Catalogs from which I will never order; six-page-thick sale circulars from supermarkets in towns I never visit; daily credit card offers (sometimes three or four in a single day); offers of mortgage financing; pitches for dubious charities; announcements that I have WON! a weekend for two in a Pocono Mts. condo.
And other people's mail. Lots and lots of other people's mail. Just this week, the spouse walked to the mailbox twice to put in a letter that arrived at our house rather than a house on a street with a similar name a couple of miles away. He wrote notes on it each time, and each time, like a boomerang, it came right back.
On an average week, I would say that we get two to seven pieces of mail for other people.
I am not blaming postal employees for any of this, but I must say that they seem dispirited. In our neighborhood, most do not even take a stab at wearing uniforms any more. And the days of getting to know your mail deliverer are long gone, at least where we live. There is constant change.
I sure would not want to lug tons of garbage mail every day, and I can't imagine that doing so is very much fun for mail carriers.
That said, I can't say that the quality of postal delivery is very high. In addition to the boomerang letter, we had a thick manila envelope just left on the front step this week. The mail carrier did not ring the bell, even though my car was in front of the house, nor did she bring it back to the Post Office. When I came downstairs at the end of the day, one of our neighborhood cats was sitting on it. That was some protection, I guess.
It was a day that featured dark clouds, sprinkles and the threat of a bigger storm. The package carried first class postage, and contained forms I had to send back to my employer. It wouldn't have been the end of the world if it had gotten soaked or stolen, but it would have been a nuisance. And what if it had been something more important?
As far as the speed of postal service mail delivery goes, it has long been a puzzle to me. Letters sent to the next town can take five days to be delivered, while missives to a distant state can be put in a mailbox at 4 p.m. and still arrive the next morning. I don't understand it; never have, but I sure don't count on any set delivery schedule.
For a number of years, I have routinely used UPS or FedEx absolutely every time I needed to make sure a document or project or birthday gift arrived on time. In well over 10 years, I have not had even one tiny problem with either service on any front.
Since personal letters long ago went the way of the dodo bird, and greeting cards are following close behind, I would be most happy to have mail delivery stopped altogether. My idea of a perfect communications world is bills by e-mail (or not at all, better yet) and a UPS or FedEx-like service for everything else. That way, packages and documents you actually want to receive, or need to send, would get to their destinations, no problem.
And best of all, there would be no disheartening of mountain of wasted paper to greet you at the doorstep each evening.
Recommended:
No
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Profilewriter
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Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Reviews written: 495
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