Send a letter

A friend of mine who is a columnist for the Peoria Journal Star, Steve Tarter, wrote in last Sunday's paper an article titled, "Business Watch: Help a postman-write a letter today." His article is right on so many different levels, I had to respond.

First, read his article (click above).

Second, a mantra in business is that you've got to change with your customer to survive and some argue that the post office hasn't done that. That isn't my argument. I feel that the post office is a service that we still need. What would we do if we got home from work and didn't get to make the trip to the mailbox to see what surprises are in there? Granted half the stuff I get is garbage or recycling, but it is a simple way to communicate, give and receive. Also, I'm still waiting for my million dollar check to come! If they dump Saturday delivery, I'll have to wait an extra day, probably. I'm not quite sure why the term "snail mail" got such a bad reputation. Don't good things come to those who wait? We don't have to get everything NOW! How about a little patience?

Third, I am all for helping people keep good jobs, especially in the environment we live in today. It is not going to break anyone's bank to do what Steve is suggesting: write a letter and if that is what it takes to keep an American staple of home delivery every day, how is that going to hurt? Write a letter once a week or once a month. Would it kill us to do that? Not just to save jobs, or a service that we all take for granted, but to write, share, think, care, etc. And, like Steve suggests, do you remember what it is like to get a note from someone in the mail? Isn't it fun to get a card in the mail on your birthday or Christmas? How would it feel to just get one for no reason except that someone was thinking about you?? I know, a foreign concept, because email and texts are so random and sent with little thought many times. And as we weed through our inboxes, how much time to you spend actually reading the contents? I've heard plenty of people, myself included, say, "I saw the message, but didn't really read it." A letter makes us stop and read. Do you have any idea what the handwriting of your family or friends is like? I will never forget what my dad's handwriting was like.

So, check your contacts in your email, see who your real friends are on Facebook (those would be the people whose address you know) and send them a letter in the mail. Also, maybe turn them to Steve's article or my plea (print them out and stick it in the envelope with your letter) and ask them to send a letter to a friend. If we all do this, we won't lose postal service, you might save your friendly, neighborhood postman/woman's job, you might rekindle an old friendship, you might get a surprise letter in your mailbox, you might reduce your stress by actually sitting down and thinking about something for more than sixty seconds. We all need that and so does the USPS.