The Letter

Alex Chilton was sixteen when The Boxtops had a hit with "The Letter", in the late 60's. I prefer their version to Joe Cocker's cover. But that's not the point of this rant. I also could have used The Beatles' "Mr. Postman", or Starz's "Last Night I Wrote a Letter" but it's only a title for what's bugging me. The U.S. Postal system is in trouble. People are using modern media to communicate, and pay bills, so The Postal system wants to shut down on Saturdays. I can't say I blame them, they're victims of circumstance. I do like getting mail on Satrurdays, but if they're losing money, I say let them shut down and enjoy their weekends like everyone else. The problem I'm having is that it's getting harder to find mail boxes on the street, to send off my dwindling correspondence. When I do spot a drop box, it's placed somewhere that's very inconvenient to stop a car and mail my letters. They always seem to be in a bus stop, a busy intersection or someplace else where it is life-threatening to stop a vehicle, and throw whatever needs to be sent into the magic slot. As a baby-boomer, the changes I see are a bit hard to adjust to. I grew up in suburban Long Island, and every town had a Post Office, a pharmacy, a deli, a market, a stationery store, a hardware store, a clothing store, gas stations, a florist, and whatever other enterpreneurial businesses existed. They were all within walking distance. But more and more, Big Box stores have edged the little guys out of existence. When I moved back in with my dad, I had a hell of time finding a decent mechanic. Finding a mechanic isn't hard, but getting one that's competent and trustworthy is a different story. The more our world shrinks, the further apart things get. I saw a story on the news about the last store in N.Y.C dedicated the sale of sheet music was closing down. The high rent and the ease of searching on the internet have just made it economically unfeasible to stay open. the Post Office isn't quite in the same boat, because things still need to be sent, but even that may become passe, when 3D printers can make it easier to reproduce stuff than actually making and mailing it. Who knows how many jobs will become unnnecessary. I might hire somebody to hunt for mailboxes for me.