Junk mail, do we need it?

Over 40% of the revenue generated by the postal service comes from 3rd & 4th class, or what we typically refer to as, "junk mail." Put another way, if junk mail went away, the price of a stamp would likely have to be raised to about .75 cents. We will already witness another increase of .02 cents this May, raising the price of a first class stamp to .44 cents. Many of us grumble at making an effort to walk all the way out to the mailbox, only to see it stuffed with this unwanted junk mail. The question is, should we appreciate what this unwanted mail is doing for us, or ban it? It´s a hard question to answer, especially considering the vast number of business that depend on it for revenue.

Should the post office remain operating in its current capacity? Simply put, do we really need a physical mailbox anymore? Carriers such as UPS, FedEx, DHL etc, already deliver a large percentage of our parcels. Should they be allowed to take on the whole load and fire the post office? The current 800,000 postal employees will no doubt have an opinion. Meanwhile more and more people are using electronic methods to pay their bills. Online bill paying has increased exponentially over the past few years, adding to the decline in postal revenue.

Of course junk mail is also migrating to the internet. SPAM, pop-up ads, banner ads and those strange little ads that seem to float across our screen, continually bombard us with their messages. No doubt most of them are every bit as unwanted as the junk mail in our mailboxes. Rumors abound that Congress is going to do something to restrict or prohibit these things, but reality suggests they are almost helpless to enforce any kind of rules with real teeth.

Before we can address the possibility of disbanding most of the postal service employees, we must ask the obvious question; "How reliable is the internet?" What happens if some unscrupulous tech-savvy low-life somehow infects the net with a virus that wipes out most of the servers or PCs out there? Then what happens to our mail? Do we feel that the government experts can prevent or undo such an event? Will our creditors allow us to go another month without paying because we cannot access our bank accounts? Will it take a special note from the government to prove we are telling the truth?

What are some pros and cons of an all-internet mail system? We would certainly need less paper for envelopes, letters, bills and such. Save a tree? Perhaps, however it does take a significant amount of electricity to run the worlds computers. Wouldn´t that offset saving a tree? What about getting your mail instantly? No more waiting a week to get your letter or bill. Ah, but wait, I think we have all seen situations where even email never made it to its destination, or took several days. Yes it happens in cyberspace too. It makes you wonder what happened to it. Did the email from your bank with your social security number just find its way into some hacker´s in-basket? Somehow cyberspace doesn´t seem any safer than snail mail.

No doubt this topic will continue to generate increasing debates over the next decade; however we can all agree that there is something quietly satisfying about getting a physical/hardcopy of our mail in our own mailbox. Companies such as Mainely Metals offers a large selection of good old physical mailboxes. They may be low-tech, but they still seem safer then the cyber alternative.