I guess it’s true that there are some thing which only government can do. For example, no private firm can ever come close to losing 8 billion dollars and stay in business.
The Postal Service says the decline in letter-writing is “primarily driven by the adoption of the Internet as a preferred method of communication.”
The loss of that lucrative first-class mail is just one part of the agency’s financial troubles, along with payment of bills via Internet and a decline in other mail. The Postal Service is facing losses of $8 billion or more this year.
The loss to what people in the future know about us today may be incalculable.
In earlier times the “art” of letter writing was formally taught, explained Newbold.
“Letters were the prime medium of communication among individuals and even important in communities as letters were shared, read aloud and published,” he said. “Letters did the cultural work that academic journals, book reviews, magazines, legal documents, business memos, diplomatic cables, etc. do now. They were also obviously important in more intimate senses, among family, close friends, lovers, and suitors in initiating and preserving personal relationships and holding things together when distance was a real and unsurmountable obstacle.”
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