The wife and I went to a Baskin and Robins ice cream place a while ago. Across the street was a sizable post office. Compared to the one it replaced, it’s huge. The one replaced only had about a dozen or so parking places and the building was only a little larger than the parking lot. The replacement opened ten or twelve years ago. I don’t quite remember when. I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess it has close to a hundred places to park.

As I looked at the reasonably new building, the question came to mind. Just when last was it that I put a stamp on something and dropped it in the mail. In the old days, I made car and house payments by mail. I suppose I still can. However, most of my payments are made my internet. Communications with friends and family is generally by phone, voice or text. Occasionally I send an email, but not often.

It’s sort of odd. The post office is the one department that I know of that is specifically established by The Constitution. Could it be that it just might fade away. Will we reach a time when it will no longer be practical to open the doors of the post offices. 20 or 30 years ago, who would have figured that?

It does show, however what happens when something is run by the government. This was not something that came on us suddenly. If someone in the hierarchy saw what was happening, plans and methods could have been made. When things started to be sent by computer, the postal service did have the option of getting in on the ground floor. Indeed they had the advantage of having the infrastructure in place. Documents could have been sent electronically just as securely and much faster. This was especially true for commercial users of the mail system.

Federal Express popped up to fill the void left by the post office. There were those who needed documents and such things sent other places overnight. Indeed Federal Express invented the new verb, “overnight,” as in “Please overnight that contract to the Chicago office.”

Nowadays, many things such as contracts are sent at the speed of computer. They can be sent either by internet or phone. For all practical purposes, it is instantaneous.

So. What happens to the USPS? I certainly don’t know. I suppose it could just fade away. On the other hand, one day someone might decide to do away with it. In either case, how will I ever be able to survive without all those circulars.

On the other hand, some really forward thinking individual just might figure out a way to modernize the mail service. I’m not sure what a modern post office system would look like, but in the hands of the government, it would likely be worse than today. If turned over to some private company(s), it just might surprise a bunch of dems. Who knows? It might even start turning a profit.

As an aside. We just might could have secure elections all in one day. Don’t think the dems would like that. First they don’t like elections in one day and they certainly don’t like them to be secure.