Snail mail isnt over already...is it?

So today in New Zealand, our national postal service has announced it may cut delivery of mail so that it doesn't happen everyday. To be clear, it already doesn't happen every day - Sundays are mail free, and many public holidays are too. What they mean is that they may cut down the delivery even further so we only get mail on three days a week. Three days a week!

Now, I don't get a huge amount of mail. Well certainly not much personal mail. But when I do get it, I love it. I love to open the envelope, the package (my mother in law still sends parcels wrapped in brown paper and tied with string - awesome) and unfold the carefully crafted contents at my leisure, preferably over a cup of tea. Would I miss out if this only happened on three days a week? Hmmm, I don't know. Maybe not. But the concept that we could be heading towards a truly digital scenario where there are NO MORE POSTED LETTERS, is that alarming to anyone? Of course, that's not what NZ Post are saying, and they've been quick to say that this is just a proposal, not a done deal. But it's pretty amazing that mail is declining so much that they are even suggesting this in the first place. When I look through my trunk of stuff - yes I have a trunk of stuff, literally, I still love to pour over some of the letters I've kept, the journals Ive written, and the hand written love notes of ex boyfriends. The idea of printing off a bunch of emails...it just aint the same.

Some people will, no doubt, discuss the change towards ereaders, and other mobile devices, making snail mail obsolete. And we do rely more and more on email, it's true. So what do you think? Would you be sad to see your letterbox turned into a birdhouse, or do you want the love letters to keep on posting?

x Michele

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