Damnit. I’m a little behind - catching up to your posts - and after just mailing you an actual letter - I just read this post. I swear I hadn’t read this before writing and sending you something! Ever since inheriting my dad’s amazing fountain pen collection a few months ago I’ve been writing at least one letter week to people on my list.
Boy, I used to love getting mail. I used to send the "Ask The Referee" columnist in The Sporting News ridiculous questions because I knew I'd get a typewritten reply back, even if he didn't use the question for the column (bonus: he was a columnist at The Plain Dealer, so the replies were on that letterhead).
My current addiction to old film cameras means that my obsession with mail has been upgraded to looking for packages from eBay. But it's much more expensive than writing silly letters to sports columnists. 🙂
One thing I noticed about your photo of all the mail: You open letters by tearing the left edge of the envelope (any correlation to being left-handed?) and not across the top. No letter opener for you?
Back in the mid 90s I used to have several pen-pals. One was from here in Michigan and we eventually met in person but of course kept writing. We're still in touch to this day, although our only form of communication is texting. I had another pen-pal from Australia which was a big thrill, as it is a bucket list destination for me. When she found out I was a big baseball fan she actually sent me a bunch of Aussie baseball stuff (trading cards, program, ballcap, etc). Getting mail back then was fun! Recently I received a hand-written thank you note from my friend's daughter after her graduation open house. I was pleased to see she was raised right and that note will go in my memories box.
Love this idea! You'll be receiving something from me for sure.
I still receive "personal" mail on occasion, but it's few and far between. I was very excited when my young niece recently learned how to address an envelope and sent me a drawing she had made.
I do have one big mail pet peeve, and that is companies that send mail meant to look like a personal letter but is actually junk mail that uses a handwriting font and just wants to sell me new windows or something.
Unfortunately, I no longer get any sense of anticipation from waiting for the daily mail delivery. I have the USPS app on my phone which includes "Informed Delivery", which shows you a photo of each piece of first class mail that will be delivered to your home that day. It's convenient to have if you're anxiously waiting for a specific piece of mail, but it's also a bummer when you see any bills that are coming. 😄
Several of my friends have Informed Delivery. I considered including a sentence or two about how it ruins the magic of postal anticipation, but I wanted to keep the mood positive. Delete the app!
Funny, I like Informed Delivery. It adds to my anticipation of the physical mail delivery. Of course, I was also the kid who snooped around for Christmas gifts. :)
Thanks for posting this. I am one of the envelopes you received. I am enjoying the access to IC very much.
I don't think I can actually get a letter from NZ to NY in 11 days, so no raffle for me. That said, I love this! I have really good memories of the late 90's sending and receiving a lot of burned CD-R's of my favourite bands live shows. This was before it was really feasible to torrent, so I'd trade disc for disc (or sometimes show for show) and there was also a wonderful custom of sharing the music as long as someone sent you "blanks and postage" - i.e., they send blank discs and a few dollars cash, and you burn the CD's and send them back. Hadn't thought about this in years - thanks for the memories!
I love this, a lot. The part about anticipating the mail as muscle memory really resonated. I used to look forward to the mail, because I was being a mail pest back in the days after high school when I didn't really have much going on, so I corresponded with everyone. It made me write. I even wrote a song about it, POSTCARD, about that connection with another person being made concrete, an actual paragraph of someones time.
I mostly work from home now, and I still check for the mail with great anticipation and, mostly, disappointment. I do still order a fair number of CDs from independent musicians, so they are a nice find when I get one.
Your mention of a mail chute reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in years. I worked in IT for Bank of New York's Mutual Funds division from 1988-1993. For the first few years I worked there we were located at 90 Washington Street in lower Manhattan.
It was always difficult to get data cables run from floor to floor, since at the time the cables we used were primarily thick coaxial cables, so at one point if was decided that the mail chute, which was rarely used, would be repurposed as a cable channel. It seemed to represent the change in the way we communicated pretty well.
Damnit. I’m a little behind - catching up to your posts - and after just mailing you an actual letter - I just read this post. I swear I hadn’t read this before writing and sending you something! Ever since inheriting my dad’s amazing fountain pen collection a few months ago I’ve been writing at least one letter week to people on my list.
Boy, I used to love getting mail. I used to send the "Ask The Referee" columnist in The Sporting News ridiculous questions because I knew I'd get a typewritten reply back, even if he didn't use the question for the column (bonus: he was a columnist at The Plain Dealer, so the replies were on that letterhead).
My current addiction to old film cameras means that my obsession with mail has been upgraded to looking for packages from eBay. But it's much more expensive than writing silly letters to sports columnists. 🙂
One thing I noticed about your photo of all the mail: You open letters by tearing the left edge of the envelope (any correlation to being left-handed?) and not across the top. No letter opener for you?
Back in the mid 90s I used to have several pen-pals. One was from here in Michigan and we eventually met in person but of course kept writing. We're still in touch to this day, although our only form of communication is texting. I had another pen-pal from Australia which was a big thrill, as it is a bucket list destination for me. When she found out I was a big baseball fan she actually sent me a bunch of Aussie baseball stuff (trading cards, program, ballcap, etc). Getting mail back then was fun! Recently I received a hand-written thank you note from my friend's daughter after her graduation open house. I was pleased to see she was raised right and that note will go in my memories box.
I think I had two pen-pals going at once: A girl in Jamaica and a guy in Malaysia.
Love this idea! You'll be receiving something from me for sure.
I still receive "personal" mail on occasion, but it's few and far between. I was very excited when my young niece recently learned how to address an envelope and sent me a drawing she had made.
I do have one big mail pet peeve, and that is companies that send mail meant to look like a personal letter but is actually junk mail that uses a handwriting font and just wants to sell me new windows or something.
Unfortunately, I no longer get any sense of anticipation from waiting for the daily mail delivery. I have the USPS app on my phone which includes "Informed Delivery", which shows you a photo of each piece of first class mail that will be delivered to your home that day. It's convenient to have if you're anxiously waiting for a specific piece of mail, but it's also a bummer when you see any bills that are coming. 😄
Several of my friends have Informed Delivery. I considered including a sentence or two about how it ruins the magic of postal anticipation, but I wanted to keep the mood positive. Delete the app!
Funny, I like Informed Delivery. It adds to my anticipation of the physical mail delivery. Of course, I was also the kid who snooped around for Christmas gifts. :)
Thanks for posting this. I am one of the envelopes you received. I am enjoying the access to IC very much.
I don't think I can actually get a letter from NZ to NY in 11 days, so no raffle for me. That said, I love this! I have really good memories of the late 90's sending and receiving a lot of burned CD-R's of my favourite bands live shows. This was before it was really feasible to torrent, so I'd trade disc for disc (or sometimes show for show) and there was also a wonderful custom of sharing the music as long as someone sent you "blanks and postage" - i.e., they send blank discs and a few dollars cash, and you burn the CD's and send them back. Hadn't thought about this in years - thanks for the memories!
I love this, a lot. The part about anticipating the mail as muscle memory really resonated. I used to look forward to the mail, because I was being a mail pest back in the days after high school when I didn't really have much going on, so I corresponded with everyone. It made me write. I even wrote a song about it, POSTCARD, about that connection with another person being made concrete, an actual paragraph of someones time.
I mostly work from home now, and I still check for the mail with great anticipation and, mostly, disappointment. I do still order a fair number of CDs from independent musicians, so they are a nice find when I get one.
Your mention of a mail chute reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in years. I worked in IT for Bank of New York's Mutual Funds division from 1988-1993. For the first few years I worked there we were located at 90 Washington Street in lower Manhattan.
It was always difficult to get data cables run from floor to floor, since at the time the cables we used were primarily thick coaxial cables, so at one point if was decided that the mail chute, which was rarely used, would be repurposed as a cable channel. It seemed to represent the change in the way we communicated pretty well.
If you want to forge some excitement over mail, I have personal examples
Get children (oh boy I ordered them a cute outfit! Grandma sent money!)
Start a collection (can be as easy as trading cards or cancelled stamps)
Send old school thank you notes when possible (practice what you preach, be the good you want to see in the world, etc)
Your mileage may vary on the above
Yep! I still buy and trade gaming cards online, but getting them in the mail gives that good good feeling :)