Post Office Friends

Stamps.com? No Thanks.

It's supposedly a terrific idea. You can buy your U.S. postage stamps quickly and simply in your own home, using your own computer. What a time saver! What a nice solution to the inconvenience of fighting the parking problem at the Post Office, and then paying for stamps there after standing and waiting in line for many minutes.

Thanks, but no thanks!

I say that because . . . to me, there is more at stake here than efficiency and convenience. lnstead, I have chosen to continue to visit the U.S. Post Office and buy my stamps there. For one thing, I now consider the people behind the counter as my friends. I want to greet them, joke with them . . . and compliment them. I want to communicate appreciation so that they know they are valued, and even loved. I do not want to abandon them for quick generic postage stamps on the internet.

The second reason the Post Office will continue to be a part of my life is the beautiful postage stamps they sell. Sending letters and other mail with a beautiful stamp is a quiet little joy. It feels like sending a gift along with my check to pay a bill. Adding a Mickey Mouse stamp, or one showing Alaska with a beautiful snow-capped Mt. Denali, is a tiny little act of beautifying the world. As I do it, I hope it will add a small touch of brightness to the recipient’s life.

The electronic world is amazing and awesome. Our lives have been profoundly blessed by the marvels of the computer and the cell phone. I thank God daily for these inventions.

But . . . Stamps.com is not for me.

People are more important to me than getting my stamps quickly.