Say Goodbye to the Post Office, Sooner than You Think!

י״ט לחודש החמישי תשע״ה

Times of Israel: An end to mail domination, as Israel seals collection boxes
The Postal Authority says it’s changing ‘to improve our service.’ Just don’t actually try to mail a letter

Jessica Steinberg, July 31, 2015

Do'ar Yisra'el
Israel Post

Want to mail a letter? Think again. Many of the Israel Postal Company’s red metal mailboxes throughout the country have been labeled “Inactive,” and their mail slots filled with hardened white foam.

“The world has changed,” said Maya Avishai, spokesperson for the company. “People are sending more emails and fewer letters, so our resources are changing.”

The Israel Postal Company, originally known as the Israel Postal Authority, is a government-owned company that has been undergoing a privatization process for several years, but is still struggling with its recovery plan following a massive strike last October.

As part of that recovery, the company plans to have fewer mail deliveries, eventually dropping to just twice a week, cutting its staff of 5,000 employees and reducing the number of local post office branches and mailboxes.

It may not be worth the effort, said Professor Sam Lehman-Wilzig, chairman of Bar-Ilan University’s School of Communication.

“The issue is whether the older media, in this case the post office, can find ways to adapt itself to a new threat, which is email,” said Lehman-Wilzig. “People stopped sending letters, I almost don’t get any wedding invitations in the mail. So what the post office has been trying to do relatively unsuccessfully is to branch out.”

The post office’s problems are nothing new in the history of communication, said Lehman-Wilzig. Every time there has been a new way of transmitting information, it threatens the older methods and then, when it can’t adapt itself, ends up disappearing.

“Who sends a telegram today?” asked Lehman-Wilzig. “It took several decades for the telegram to disappear, but of course it was the way of communicating electronically for around 50 years. There are no telegrams anymore, and we certainly don’t have the Pony Express.” (cont.)

(Tip Credit: Yitz Woolf)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
No matter how logical this report is, suggesting a gradual shutdown of postal services, unless the post office can adapt, this will still be representative of the desired advancement by the powers that be to control, and more closely monitor the populace's (our) communications.

Israel already seems to be in the forefront of converting to a completely electronic economy.

Could it be that the recently reported "mishaps" and complaints from the public regarding the Israeli Postal Service are just convenient catalysts?


Stay tuned!