The End of Snail Mail?

Oct. 13 - We’ve all heard about the media food chain, where a controversial story first appears in the tabloids and then finds its way into the establishment organs. But no one thought that the same would apply to anthrax attacks. As I was ingesting the information the about the cutaneous rash afflicting Tom Brokow’s assistant and workers in white biohazrd suits testing the New York Times newsroom, my office door opened. It was the upbeat fellow whose duties include distributing the mail. “Hi, Steven!,” he chirped, then dropped a packet of envelopes, packages, and magazines on my desk, neatly bound with a rubber band. Uh, thanks. Minutes later, a directive went around to all of us at NEWSWEEK: this was the last delivery we’d get for a while.

AND YOU KNOW what? Losing mail delivery in 2001 is nowhere near the problem it would have been just a few years ago. Electronic communications, particularly e-mail, fax and the Web, have already supplanted the postal service—commonly known in the high-tech community as snail mail. It’s just another example of the relentless calculus of the digital revolution, where bits trump atoms. The threat that a deadly disease might be a consequence of opening an envelope could be a tipping point that leads to changes in the way we look at snail mail—and heads us down a road where daily mail delivery goes the way of the milkman.

Let’s try a thought experiment. What comes in the mail that you absolutely, positively can’t get electronically? If you’re connected to the Internet—and, duh, you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t—probably your e-mail-to-snail-mail ratio overwhelmingly favors the former. What’s more, it comes instantly, allows you an infinitely easier means to reply, and can be stored in a fraction of a second, in a place that’s much easier to find than in a pile of papers on your desk or entrance table. The bulk of my own workplace mail consists largely of press releases, most of which go straight to the circular file. At every turn I ask PR agencies to send me e-mail—no attachments, please. I get invitations to events in the mail, but many come in e-mail as well, and while I like a nicely printed invite, I can do without. Yes, a lot of e-mail is unwanted spam, but that can be deleted in the blink of an eye, and doesn’t have to be physically carted away—or ripped up and shredded, as in the case of credit card offers that identity thieves might use to get plastic in your name.

Of course you need your bills and financial statements. But haven’t you been reading the inserts lately? Every utility, bank, credit-card company and broker is absolutely begging you to free them from the cost of printing and mailing bills, in favor of getting your statements electronically. It saves them a bundle, so much so that sometimes they offer you discounts if you switch. Once you have your phone and credit-card records online, you can search and store them with an ease unthinkable with pages of hard copy. And, of course, millions of people are discovering the advantages of paying bills and banking on line. Yes, it’s a hassle to set up, but a cinch once you get rolling.

How about your magazines? As much as we like our Web sites, the fact is that reading NEWSWEEK on a computer isn’t the same as having it in your hands. How about this solution: dedicated media-delivery systems, which would bring both newspapers and magazines to your home. (And if you really love catalogs, you could arrange to get them through those services, too.)

People will always need to ship things. (Though the physical form of books, music, movies and software will all go the way of the buffalo in favor of downloading.) But haven’t private-delivery services like FedEx and UPS already taken over the package business? And for secruity’s sake, I’m sure that in the current climate, there is considerable incentive for these businesses to set up a system where you might be notified in advance (by e-mail, natch) when a package is coming—and who sent it.

I don’t want to underestimate the considerable difficulties of phasing out snail mail. The toughest nut to crack: not everybody has easy access to computers, faxes, the Web and online financial transactions. Universal access is a bedrock value in our mail system. And it should be the same with Internet access.

Traditionalists, of course, will bemoan the loss of the classic handwritten letter. But as lovely as that custom is, it’s been on the decline since its heyday in the Jane Austen era. Maybe those who still uphold it will be the customer base for a snob-driven courier service. (Grease up your bicycles, former Kozmo workers!)

It’s true that for many people, the very concept of ending regular postal service is akin to ending civilization itself. Indeed, because of the digital divide, we can’t lose it for some time. But I must reiterate that the decline of snail mail and its replacement by e-mail, fax and Web was well along before the horrible events of this autumn. Now expect a dip in mail volume similar to the one that hit the stock market—without the expectation that the bounce-back will eventually surpass the present status. The reason is simple: when compared to anthrax bacilli, computer viruses don’t seem so threatening.

© 2003 Newsweek, Inc.