MAIL – Delivering the Mail

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Snail mail is hanging in there.

The growth of overnight delivery services, coupled with the growing acceptance of e-commerce and e-mail, are having their predictable effects, although Postal Service officials insist that there will always be a place for first-class mail.

Indeed, the volume of mail at Los Angeles International Airport has grown since 1989, despite a slight dip in 1999 due to increased service at the John Wayne and Ontario airports.

“Bills are still going to need to be paid by those people who don’t have Internet connections,” said Terri Bouffiou, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service. “People will still send greeting cards, and we believe there will still be a role for hard-copy advertising, newspapers and magazines.”

The downtown branch of Deloitte & Touche sends out an average of 35,000 pieces of mail per month. Only 3,000 items, on average, are sent overnight each month. While the company is taking advantage of the Internet, no one expects to eliminate postal service anytime soon.

“There are still things that have to be done through the mail, like tax returns and legal documents,” said spokeswoman Suzanne Thompson. “Obviously, society is going paperless, but we don’t see it in the near future.”

Old-fashioned mail carries with it some inherent plusses and minuses. “The rates are low and they will deliver to any address in the country. But you don’t know how long it’s going to take and there’s not even any guarantee that it’s going to get there,” said Robert Dahl, project director with Air Cargo Management Group in Seattle.

And Postal Service officials know that as more people use the Internet to pay bills and exchange documents, the volume of letters will decline. Recognizing that, the focus is now on niche areas, such as priority mail. Through aggressive advertising and pricing, revenue from priority mail has increased 47 percent from 1995.

According to a price comparison through Smartship.com, an Irvine-based site that provides shipping cost information, sending a 5-pound package from Los Angeles to Philadelphia would cost $6.50 with priority mail and $15.30 with UPS, although UPS guarantees on-time delivery and the Postal Service doesn’t.

Mark Hawkins, vice president of marketing for Smartship.com, said the fact that the Postal Service delivers everywhere represents a huge advantage when it comes to e-commerce shipping. “They are the lowest common denominator,” said Hawkins. “They go to every household and there’s a post office in every town.”

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