Please, Mr. Postman, raise my postage!

 October 16, 2011 10:19 AM

(CBS News)  

Doomsday talk about the Post Office has moved our Ben Stein to speak out post haste:

I see that the U.S. Postal Service is contemplating drastic cutbacks in postal service, closing many post offices and slowing down the delivery of mail ... maybe virtually ending the postal service.

This, of course, is because the Postal Service is losing money as ever more correspondence of every kind is done by free (or almost free) via instantaneous email.

But just for me, email will never replace a printed or handwritten letter on an actual piece of paper. The most cunning email, with moving angels and dolphins and music attached, is not as touching to me as a letter some kindly soul sat down and wrote to me.

I guess it's because I am 66 years old, and I can remember the anticipation of getting letters and cards from relatives - mostly now long gone - and girls I had mad crushes on in high school.

CBS Sunday Morning