Post Office Mail & Email

Postal mail has been around for many centuries in different forms. Up until the invention of the telegram, the telephone, mail was the best way to communicate. The only two options that were avaliable were either write letters or go see that person in person. It was not always possible and convenient to go across continents financially, to have a simple conversation. The telephone and electricity were great inventions that changed communication and lead up to the internet.
Postal offices required a few things to do business. First they needed honest, good people who would help deliver and receive mail. These Postal Offices were for profit because they had to cover their costs and the cost of sending mail, building/buying an office and employees. They also needed to create other Post Offices that would receive and sort and deliver the mail further. All this was done by human beings and delivered by horses until the development of train and then way later the car/ truck. For many years the postal office was the center of town gossip and news.
The Post Office has evolved from its humble beginnings. The US Postal office is much more developed and a bit different. In our time there are many differences. We don’t use horses or trains. We use trucks, airplanes, the little postal cars. USPS covers most of its expenses by selling stamps and some other stuff. There are many things that need to be done before the mail is sent out. First and foremost the mail is sorted by machines. They are very fast but sometimes they chop/cut up letters (very annoying). Then the mail is sent out into the directions where it’s going. Then the postal office in your area re-sorts the mail again and gives it to the mailmen who deliver it. The Post Office not only sends out mail it also sends and receives packages. A person also has a choice of priority mail, express mail and other types that help speed up the sending and receiving of your mail to its intended destination. Sometimes to send something you have to wait in line.To receive ones mail a person needs to have a valid address, mailbox and a key. Now days a person can receive greeting cards, DVD’s and many other items. You can receive your internet bought books, shoes, clothes.
About Email. Email is set up to mimic the Postal Office but there are a few differences. Email stands for electronic mail which is sent via the internet. The Internet was developed as a byproduct. The US military created ARPAnet- (Advanced Research Projects Agency Networks) to distribute information between computers which are dispersed around the country*. ARPAnet developed the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) communications standard which established the underlying protocol of the Internet*. Preston Gralla * states that email messages are sent in the same way as most Internet data. The TCP protocol breaks the messages into packets, the IP protocol delivers the packets to the proper location, and the TCP reassembles the message on the receiving mail server so it can be read.
Email is made of a few different parts also. First foremost a person needs to create an email account with a provider that they prefer. Then they can send and receive emails. To check emails a person must log onto their email account and that requires a password. The password and mail account are similar to a mail box, address, and a key. When someone is sent an email message the message isn’t delivered straight to a personal computer instead it gets sent to a mail server. Then when a person is logs in, the mail server checks whether there is new mail. There are many types of mail that can be received- letters, attachments of pictures or other media (videos, DVD’s). A person might also sigh up for email list and notices of sales/ advertisements from companies that they like. Sometimes a person might get junk mail- they can delete those, now days email automatically list unknown addresses as junk mail.
So to make sure we are clear on the difference of mail and email I will list them. One of the first obvious differences is the speed of email vs. the speed of mail. If a person has a decent provider- or goes somewhere where there is fast internet connection email wins by a bunch. Another obvious difference is cost. That is most email that is provided is cost free (besides getting email/internet on a blackberry or a phone). Next difference is that email does not rely on humans to sort them into mailboxes,etc. Lastly a person can’t get packages in their email that is in physical form.
Life in the 21st century is amazing in many ways. We the people have the world at our fingertips. Email and the Postal Service are beneficial to humans. There is no reason why we should have to choose one over the other.


Sources:
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2.)Gralla,P. How the Internet Works. 8th edition, 2007.