Editing Mail (section)

=== Rise of electronic correspondence ===

Modern alternatives, such as the [[telegraph]], [[telephone]], [[telex]], [[fax|facsimile]], and [[email]], have reduced the attractiveness of paper mail for many applications. These modern alternatives have some advantages: in addition to their speed, they may be more secure, e.g., because the general public cannot learn the address of the sender or recipient from the envelope, and occasionally traditional items of mail may fail to arrive, e.g. due to vandalism to mailboxes, unfriendly pets, and adverse weather conditions. Mail carriers due to perceived hazards or inconveniences, may refuse, officially or otherwise, to deliver mail to a particular address (for instance, if there is no clear path to the door or mailbox). On the other hand, traditional mail avoids the possibility of computer malfunctions and [[malware]], and the recipient does not need to print it out if they wish to have a paper copy, though scanning is required to make a digital copy.

Physical mail is still widely used in business and personal communications for such reasons as legal requirements for [[signature]]s, requirements of etiquette, and the requirement to enclose small physical objects.

Since the advent of [[email]], which is almost always much faster, the postal system has come to be referred to in [[Internet slang]] by the [[retronym]] "[[Snail Mail (disambiguation)|snail mail]]". Occasionally, the term "white mail" has also been used as a neutral term for postal mail.

Mainly during the 20th century, experimentation with [[hybrid mail]] has combined electronic and paper delivery. Electronic mechanisms include [[telegram]], [[teleprinter|telex]], facsimile ([[fax]]), [[email]], and short message service ([[Short Message Service|SMS]]). There have been methods which have combined mail and some of these newer methods, such as temporary emails, that combine facsimile transmission with overnight delivery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Significant Years in U.S. Postal History |publisher=[[United States Postal Service]] |year=2015 |url=https://about.usps.com/publications/pub100/pub100_076.htm |access-date=13 May 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227063650/http://about.usps.com/publications/pub100/pub100_076.htm |archive-date=27 February 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Treaties |work=Postal Matters |publisher=United States Embassy, Bulgaria |date=25 June 1990 |url=http://bulgaria.usembassy.gov/postalmatters.html |access-date=13 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919081040/http://bulgaria.usembassy.gov/postalmatters.html |archive-date=19 September 2015 }}</ref> These vehicles commonly use a mechanical or electro-mechanical standardised writing (typing), that on the one hand makes for more efficient communication, while on the other hand makes impossible characteristics and practices that traditionally were in conventional mail, such as [[calligraphy]].

This epoch{{when|date=June 2013}} is undoubtedly mainly dominated by mechanical writing, with a general use of no more of half a dozen standard typographic [[typeface|fonts]] from standard keyboards. However, the increased use of typewritten or computer-printed letters for personal communication and the advent of email have sparked renewed interest in calligraphy, as a letter has become more of a "special event". Long before email and computer-printed letters, however, decorated envelopes, [[rubber stamp]]s and [[artistamp]]s formed part of the medium of [[mail art]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kordic |first1=Angie |title=How Did Mail Art Develop into a Global Art Movement? |url=https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/mail-art-correspondence-postal |website=Widewalls |publisher=Widewalls Modern & Contemporary Art Source |access-date=24 June 2023}}</ref>

In the 2000s (decade) with the advent of [[eBay]] and other online [[auction sites]] and [[online store]]s, postal services in industrialized nations have seen a major shift to item shipping. This has been seen as a boost to the system's usage in the wake of lower paper mail volume due to the accessibility of email.

[[Online post office]]s have emerged to give recipients a means of receiving traditional correspondence mail in a scanned electronic format.