The postman winked and chirped

(The following was a letter I sent to Insight Magazine in response to a 1995 column by then Postmaster General Marvin Runyon.)

Americans make enough fun of the U.S. Postal Service without its esteemed Postmaster General compounding the hilarity. But compound it he did in his column "Postal Future Is in the E-mail" (Sept. 25). Trying to justify the post-office's existence in the year 2010, he simply confirmed how out of touch government bureaucrats can be.

His scenario had a future business person "Opening his computer" which "winked and chirped," showing him "how to get his message into the postal system." Doesn't Mr. Runyon understand that the computer was invented in-part to get our messages out of the postal system?

After eight paragraphs trying to convince us that his government agency has a future, he inadvertently stated the obvious. What, in his view, would be the greatest innovation by the year 2010? "Post-office lines will be a thing of the past." Of course they will, Mr. Runyon; you can't have lines forming in front of counters in an agency that has been replaced by more efficient, private alternatives!