Why Snail Mail Still Matters

A new French postage stamp will give you a whiff of a baguette. Destined for international letters up to 20 grams, the stamp’s aroma is released through microcapsules that are embedded in its ink.

France has one of the best postal services in the world.

The Best Postal Services

In its 2023 Report, the Universal Postal Union used the four Rs to rank 172 countries’ postal services. As you would expect, Reliability refers to speed and predictability. Meanwhile, Reach is about global connectivity, Relevance takes us to demand, and Resilience involves revenue streams and innovation.

Shown by the darkest green, Switzerland’s in a “league of its own.” Scored at 100, its postal service was ranked #1 for 7 years. You can also see the postal disparity between high and lower income countries:

Reflecting our map, Statista graphed the best postal services:

Our Bottom Line: Economic Growth

The trends are what you might expect. Recognizing that letter volume is down while parcels are up, the 2023 Postal Union report cites the need to build on the e-commerce surge and to develop new competitive strategies that recognize the challenge from the private sector. These trends take us directly to a nation’s GDP. They point to the ascent of e-commerce and the central role postal services play.

But the following graphs say it all. You can see that the letters and parcels lines are heading in opposite directions:

Our postal service is a GDP springboard. As the Postal Union tells us, we have a correlation between economic resilience and a higher postal development score. They hypothesize that the absence of a postal infrastructure would reduce GDP by 6.96%. Then, further corroborating the connection, they emphasize that postal service is an e-commerce facilitator. Crucial for the global supply chain, it enables the reach of small businesses and connects remote communities.

So, even when we see a surge in email diminishing post office revenue, we can also realize that e-commerce requires the parcel delivery that feeds the consumer slice of the GDP.

My sources and more: Thanks to Marginal Revolution for alerting me to the Baguette Stamp. However, the Postal Union report was by far my best source of facts. Then, as for stamp prices, this group has some specific criticism.

Please note that several of today’s sentences were in a past econlife post.