Snail Mail?

In centuries past if people travelled far from their homes, like European and Asian people going to America, it could take months for correspondence to arrive. And illiterate people often had to pay someone else to write or read the letters for them. Often the letters were carried by someone who happened to be going to the town where a person lived and they might not ever arrive.

When people moved across the North American continent during the California Gold Rush the Pony Express and Transcontinental Railroad made it possible for mail to arrive in a matter of weeks. And modern methods of transportation allowed it to arrive even faster. Air Mail could get letters across the continent and delivered to homes in less than a week!

Now people depend on the internet for communication and messages can travel across the planet in a matter of seconds. Some people think the US Postal Service, which was privatized years ago, will go out of business. Of course gifts and packages can be delivered by other companies. My mailbox is mostly filled with ads, catalogs, and an occasional bill, but it would be sad not to get physical birthday and other greeting cards that can be displayed and kept, and some people can't afford internet access. I hope we can continue to get snail mail in the future.