Will Email and Delivery Companies Ever Phase Out the Post Office? Why or Why Not?

[Deleted member 111282]

I don't have a problem with the post office per-se (I used to have a great relationship with this one mailman before he took a different route), but we're at a wierd time period where it may need to exist anymore. Email doesn't cost anything to send, and can appear in someone's inbox in a second. Stamps keep going up every so often due to inflation (my mom can remember when they each cost 5 cents, now they each cost 55 cents). There's delivery companies like UPS, FedEx, Amazon Prime, etc, if you want to have a package shipped to you or someone else. While it would put mailmen out of work, it's very difficult to work as them because of consistent walking and sometimes difficult weather. Some post office employees may hate their jobs, but because they have bills to pay and might have mouths to feed, they'll feel afraid to leave that job because then they may not find anything better. There also the beaucratic side of it where federal bigwigs are trying everything they can to keep their jobs.

On the other hand, some people feel more comfortable sending physical letters, post cards, birthday cards, etc, because they're most-likely elderly and not savvy with modern technology (I'm not knocking you old folks reading this). Some people may send physical letters because they're privacy-protecting than using Big Tech email servers, and while there's nothing wrong with that, there are relatively-cheap ways you can set up your own email client and server, and then have each email encrypted. You can also use privacy-protecting email sites, such as ProtonMail. There's also people who enjoy collecting birthday and holiday cards, post cards, and stamps for memoribilia purposes. Some people may think picking out and sending a birthday card is more sentimental than just sending them a birthday picture in a text message. Some jobs may be better or worse than others, but at least it's keeping people employed.

What are your stances on the subject?

 

[captain-sensible]

well not that many years to go; where will i go to collect my pension if there's no post office?

 

[Deleted member 111282]

well not that many years to go; where will i go to collect my pension if there's no post office?

If the post office were to be phased out, society should eventually come up with some alternative way for people to get their pensions

 

[KGIII]

It'd require an amendment to the Constitution in the United States, 'cause of that ol' Article I, Section 8, Clause 7. Given the current political climate, and the countless people the post office employs, it's gonna be a while before that changes.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Also, at least in my country there is a law for it, the government isn't allowed to open your physical/postal mail, for e-mail there isn't such law so they tend to make less of a big deal of e-mail because it's electronic. So I think it will be a while before that happens and I think physical/postal mail should stay because now days that is more personal than receiving an e-mail because not everybody does it anymore.

 

[Deleted member 111282]

Also, at least in my country there is a law for it, the government isn't allowed to open your physical/postal mail, for e-mail there isn't such law so they tend to make less of a big deal of e-mail because it's electronic. So I think it will be a while before that happens and I think physical/postal mail should stay because now days that is more personal than receiving an e-mail because not everybody does it anymore.

Do you use some kind of encryption scheme to protect yourself from that?

 

[f33dm3bits]

Do you use some kind of encryption scheme to protect yourself from that?

It sounds worse than it is, I live in a Democratic country. Basically if they think you are doing something against the law they have less of a problem trying to hack your e-mail then opening your postal mail because of the law against it. I host my own e-mail and I have it setup for modern standards.