Snail Mail

Snail mail or smail (from snail + mail) named after the snail with its slow speed, used to refer to letters and missives carried by conventional postal delivery services. The phrase refers to the lag-time between dispatch of a letter and its receipt, versus the virtually instantaneous dispatch and delivery of its electronic equivalent. It is also known, more neutrally, as paper mail, postal mail, land mail, or simply mail or post. An earlier term of the same type is surface mail, coined retrospectively after the development of airmail. This happened not too long ago, between the 1970s to 1990s. Snail mail is also a term used in reference to penpalling. Snail mail penpals are those penpals that communicate with one another through the postal system, rather than on the internet which has become the more common medium. Some online groups also use paper mail through regular gift or craft hot topics. In some countries, services are available to print and deliver emails to those unable to receive email, like people with no computers or internet access.

The term "snail mail" appears as early as 1942 in the headline of a news article about slow mail delivery. The term was used by the U.S. Post Office in magazine advertising in the mid to late 1960s to encourage use of zip codes. Ads for zip code use appeared in many issues of "LOOK", "Life", and, "Saturday Evening Post" magazines and displayed a caricature of a large snail outfitted as a letter carrier, with the term "Snail Mail" in bold lettering. The term appears in a Russel Baker humor column about the slow speed of the U.S. Postal Service in 1969.In 1974, the term was used to describe second-class mail which took longer to arrive than first class mail.

Until the 1990s, it was very common to send personal letters using the postal service. Many people have stored collections of letters from friends and loved ones, and the personal correspondence of many writers, artists, and other celebrities have been compiled into books. With the advent of email communication, postal mail is used much less frequently for personal letters; however, it is still the only method for sending larger packages from one place to another. Although its uses have changed over the years, it is still a valuable system.

Today, snail mail is sent through both public and private services, and it can be delivered internationally. In the United States, the US Postal Service is the most common method of delivery for a letter or package, though private carriers are frequently used by online retailers to ship their goods. Under the postal service method, individuals pay for the service by pasting stamps on their letter or package, which are equivalent to a specific amount of money. The price to send a piece of mail varies depending on the package's weight and whether or not it is traveling internationally.

Snail mail, or normal post, as you call it, will never end. It is not the same to receive a physical letter as a virtual thing. I guess we humans shall not lose the ability to interact with friends as in the past. It gives some kind of human touch.