Dearth Takes a Holiday

This year I kept track of how many Holiday Cards I sent (48). And I just counted the number received (25). I am not counting the cards I got on-line (including the one shown here) because, frankly, I consider them one step above Spam which, to me, is not much of a difference in altitude. The most annoying were the cards sent to someone’s entire on-line library (which obviously included me) with one click of a “send” button without even attempting to hide the mailing list. Not much personal contact there I’d say and therefore, to me, just this side of an insult. If the sender can’t even take the time to “bcc” everybody, doesn’t that somewhat water down the sincerity of the sentiment?

I know one should be able to rise above the need to receive as well as give but, hey, even with the ubiquity of e-mail and other personal communication devices, in my world at least, a line needs to be drawn. I’ll admit I’m of the old school (a really old school it seems)…but I didn’t start to realize the depth of the schism until about five years ago when a friend confessed to me that he would rather not get cards because of the “pressure” involved in feeling there had to be a response. Of course his name immediately dropped off my snail-mail list. Goodness knows I don’t want to apply any guilt or pressure. Except maybe by writing about it on this here peebsblog.

An interesting side note: Last year I struck up an acquaintance with a young entrepreneur who designs and markets, among other things, t-shirts and greeting cards. I like his imaginative work and have purchased some shirts and a 20-pack of holiday cards (which I sent out). Because of this we have developed some friendly chat on-line and we might even segue into being in-person friends in the future. However, he didn’t send out cards himself this season, even though it seems to me it would have been a good marketing decision if not a personal one. So he is part of the problem even though he would like to be part of the solution with his clever designs.

According to every source, the Internet is killing the USPS. I am one small individual and if, by my own statistics, almost half of my correspondents are not, well, respondents I shouldn’t be surprised. Except, HEY, how come I still get so much junk mail? Somebody has to be making a fortune on that, why isn’t the P.O.?