When’s the last time you sent a letter? Not a bill… a letter? To take it a bit farther, When’s the last time you went to the Post Office and ended up having a pleasureable experience?
Well i’ll answer these questions myself. The last time I sent a letter was about a month ago. I have actually sent 4 letter in 2010 to people that I care about. but thats only becuase I realized that it was a dying art and I wanted to revivie it a bit. Bu tbefore this year.. I probably hadn’t written and mailed a letter in about 6-7 years.
As for the post office. I have to make it a conscious effort to make it there when they first open if I have to mail something out Priority Mail or pick up a box that required a signature. Otherwise, you’ll end up in a line of 25 people with only one clerk. If you DO make it early though.. you better hope you have exact change as its apparent that in my neighborhood they only start with a $50 bank and wait to collec tmoney before they can cash money orders or give you change for what you just bought.
I myself think the product is on its way out of the door. The volume of mail has decreaseed 100 fold over the last 10 years and the upswing of technology. Their only duece in the hole was package sending.. but I myself now go to DHL or UPS now because they usually dont have the lines and they typically are well paid so they are in turn more pleasant in fulfilling your requests.
But although I think it’s only a matter of time before it self implodes, we stop bailing it out with our tax dollars and before they reach the price of $1.00 for a single stamp to cover fuel costs, Artist Matt Chase thinks it just needs a facelift.
What you do think?
The new logo & merchandising all look really good, but it’s only a matter of time before the USPS becomes obsolete. With all of the technology that’s available it’s inevitable. Sad but true!
There is the difference and why this too will fail. Chase is an Artist and not a Designer. There is no business case, no branding strategy, no questions answered behind the design of the post office’s visual communication system. It’s just attractive. It does not compel me to go out of my way to wait in line for a money order… This is an artist attempt to disguise obsolescence.
I appreciate receiving a letter because it is a dying process however the truth is that it is dying…I’m actually beginning to appreciate phone calls more even because that to is a dying practice
….in terms of reviving the practice I don’t think it can be saved because of the effort involved, ppl are looking for less effort not more regardless if the packaging is pretty 
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The Postal Service needs more than just new branding. It needs a new business model similar to that of FedEx. They need the additional services FedEx acquired with its purchase of Kinko’s. As each generation gets more and more comfortable with paying bills online the volume of mail will only continue to decrease. I think 90% of my mail is advertisements or offers for a new credit card. They need something new that will cause people to want to use them again. If they did mail on demand, let me pick the day/time in which you deliver my mail/packages, customized products like birthday cards/ gift boxes etc.
I like Matt Chase’s artwork, its “sexy”. As for the post office, I visit there probably twice a month. I usually go in the afternoon. If I have a package to send I do prefer the USPS because the cost is typically lower than UPS or Fed Ex.
Last month I forgot to mail back my absentee ballot on time so the day before I was forced to overnight it. It cost me $18 to send it via USPS vs sending it via UPS or Fed Ex for double that price.
I typically go to my neighborhood post office so the service is a bit more intimate and familiar unlike the main post office downtown. All in all, I like the Post Office and I LOVE MATT’S artwork!