Sketch of RE

Sam Smith

SKETCH OF RE

How will the US Postal Service going out of business affect the average american?

The skies were grey, a little boy clung to his mother as lightning cut through the persistent clouds ahead, loud thunder followed and he immediately jumped and grasped his mothers hand a little bit tighter. He then asked his mother, “why don’t you ever drive the car to pick me up anymore?” His mother quick to reply said, “well, mommy got laid off, she doesn’t have a job right now… along with 600,000 other Americans. So one of the ways for us to save money is to walk everywhere we can.” Lightning split through the sky once more and the little boys mother reached into her backpack and grabbed her sons rain coat and helped him into it. “Why don’t you have a job anymore mom?” The little boy asked. “Well son, a bad economy and ineffective shipping methods ran the US Postal Service out of business.” The little boy seemed confused and as he pondered what his mother had just told him, he said to himself, “Isn’t that where we get our mail? That makes no sense… How will we get mail or ship things? Or order things online?” “I wonder the same thing, they will just have to figure that out,” his mom softly replied. 

Later that day the storm clouds let up and moved on, but for the little boy and his mother along with 600,000 other families the storm had just begun. The United States postal service is a vital business in this country, not only does it deliver our mail, but it provides some 600,000 jobs to our already unsteady economy. Our postal service is also part of American history. The Pony Express started in 1860 and ran until 1861, messengers would ride horses from coast to coast to deliver mail to Americans. The creation of the Pony Express signaled a paradigm shift in American culture. Citizens could now connect with eachother, husbands could contact wives from different states. Money could be sent from coast to coast, the options for this new service seemed endless.