My Sons are all wired in to the internet so completely that I thought I was doing a great thing. One year for my older guy’s birthday I sent an email birthday card instead of the old snail mail one.
Boy did I get an earful. I think the kindest thing he said was lazy good for nothing excuse for a father. I think he felt strongly about it!
Beyond the fact that I couldn’t fold a few dollar bills into the e-card I ignored the most important concept about sending greetings. The Post Office calls it the mail moment. They even did a study on it.
The study concluded that even in this day of e-mail and instant or text messaging we all like to get personal mail. In fact 55% of Americans look forward everyday to seeing what the postman might bring.
Most folks think that e-mail killed the Post Office.
Au contraire it has boosted it. All those things sold every day on Ebay? All five million new items daily? Most are shipped by the good old P.O.
The big DVD service Netflix? All shipped by first class mail.
The thing about getting a personal letter is that it has emotional content.
No matter how creative you get in your text message nothing beats the old fashioned process of getting a greeting card on your birthday.
I have a business contact who I have known for more than 3 decades. This person is completely up to speed with the internet and sends me 15 e-mails a week keeping me up to date on the business side.
But every year for my birthday and for Christmas I get a handwritten note in a card.
It’s just nice and in this world, nice goes a long way.
