One afternoon a couple years ago, I packaged a manuscript to mail out. I got the postage already put on, so I was good to go. The package was too big to fit in our mailbox, so I schlepped down the block to use the public mailbox. Nope. It was gone. Only the concrete pad where it once stood was left. The cash-strapped p.o. had decommissioned it. Times had changed.

The U.S. Post Office has run into hard times like the rest of us. A sea of red has engulfed them. They're talking about cutting Saturday delivery and taking longer to deliver first-class postage. Like everybody, I have family members who work/have worked for the p.o., so I don't like seeing it flounder like a dinosaur. Those are jobs--folks' livelihoods--at stake.

The p.o. has gotten a lot of my business over the years, Lord knows. All that seems to get delivered at the house nowadays is junk mail and bills. The occasional card (b-days, Xmas) also arrives. But getting those cards you can hold in your hands is a nice touch I don't think will ever fade away. So, I hope some version of the p.o. survives and sticks around.

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"A curling and sparking electric wire of a read!"
Frank Wheeler, Crime Factory