[image error]I was in line at the downtown post office last week, predictably underprepared with spontaneous earrings to send. There were just enough people in front of me to scribble “Thinking of you!” on the earrings’ cardboard backing, before tossing them into a package-for-purchase and adding the words FRAGILE in big block letters, front and back.

When it was my turn, I handed the bubble mailer triumphantly to the postal worker. His floppy gray hair flopped into place as he looked up with a smile and ...