Postal Reform: Yea or Nay?

When I first started out in magazine editing 14 years ago, one of my tasks as a junior editor was to open the mail. It actually was a line item on my job description, because the duty was no small feat back then.

Each day a hearty gentleman from our mail room would heave onto my desk a mail crate stuffed with press releases, flyers, letters to the editor and other mail. Back then I opened about 100 pieces of mail a day and rerouted each to the appropriate editor, our files or the trash.