How The Internet Saved The Post Office?

from the didn't-see-that-coming dept

For years and years there have been stories wondering how the US Postal Service would survive in the age of the internet. After all, with so much virtual communication, who needed the Post Office any more? In fact, while the Post Office has made some lame attempts at become more virtual, it's starting to become clear that the internet may have helped to save the postal service. Sure, it's (mostly) done away with person-to-person letters, but those were a tiny fraction of mail in the years before email became popular anyway. Instead, the internet has created things like eBay and Netflix that push more physical goods through the mail -- a concept clearly not lost on the Post Office as they've even set up lessons to help people use eBay. The digital age has also meant that companies sending stuff through the mail need better information about what they send -- and the Post Office is delivering on that front as well, giving companies much clearer data on what they're delivering and when, so that targeted mailings can be better monitored and (one hopes) more effective. Either way, it looks like, despite the obvious assumptions that the Post Office was being challenged by the internet, the opposite may be true.