I read an article in our local newspaper the other day (yes, I still read the newspaper, cover to cover, daily) about the fact that people do not write and mail personal letters, notes or cards to one other anymore. All have been replaced primarily by the instant gratification of e-mails, texts, tweets and e-cards. The typical household, it said, will go two months before a personal letter shows up whereas as recent as 1987 it was once every two weeks.

 It went on to point out that, in the future, there would be no old “love letters” discovered in boxes in the attic but rather circulating on the internet, if people care to look for them. Recently, while looking in a drawer,  I came across a card from my wife for our tenth anniversary. A pleasant find as we just celebrated our twentieth. If it were an e-card, it might have been lost forever in one of my hard disk crashes over the past ten years… 

Just the other day, I received a personal hand-written note from a printer I met a trade show. Unlike other pieces of mail, I read it thoroughly. It still is on my desk whereas nearly all other correspondence has already made its way to the recycle bin.  When it is hand written, it seems to have a more personal impact.

 I usually send out hand written notes (“wee” notes as my neighbor calls them) when I send correspondence or samples. No Times New Roman or Arial font, just my sometimes crooked script. I have to put a little more thought into it before I write it as there is no spell check, backspace or delete on my pen.

 Just think about it, if half of us would send a personal letter or note a few times a year, we would probably go along way to solving the Postal Service deficit and maybe make a a lot of people smile along the way.