From: tsanford@nf.sympatico.ca 
  
 Maybe one becomes used the immediacy of the internet? 
  
 But it has seemed that for the past few years postal mail (sometimes rudely 
 referred to as 'Snail Mail') has deteriorated? 
 a) Become slower, 
 b) Undated; that is you can't tell when the item was posted (or at least 
 cancelled/franked by the Post Office), 
 c) Often one can't tell from where it was mailed. 
 d) Delivery to one's door and/or rural route delivery is not available in 
 many areas including newer urban subdivisions. 
  
 Why is this of concern? 
  
 At one time you could be pretty well sure of receiving a bill or a statement 
 a sufficient number of days before due in order to return payment. Also by 
 mail. 
  
 Now it is not uncommon to receive a letter, bill or statement dated say 15th 
 of a certain month around the end of the month! Some 12 days or more later. 
  
 Typically an item, if you can tell from the pre-printed envelope or the use 
 of a 'Mailing machine' and if it was also mailed promptly; entered the mail 
 in another major Canadian city on say the Friday following the 15th (i.e. 
 pre weekend). From the following Monday it then took up to five days to 
 reach the destination Post Office to be placed in my individual mail box 
 (located btw at the Post Office Building itself) late on that fifth day. We 
 are located in a small town only a few kilometres north of a provincial 
 capital city. 
  
 The next day, I do happen to check my mail which we do every two to three 
 days. However; if that NEXT day happens to be Saturday I may not available! 
 So I check the mail box the following Monday. Thus we have up to 12 to 15 
 days from the date printed on the letter, bill or statement! 
  
 However I understand that in some cases mailings are 'bundled' or sent by 
 courier to the city/area of destination. Then at that destination unbundled 
 and placed into the local mail. For example all the bills for customers in 
 say, a certain region of, say, New Brunswick might be bundled in say 
 Halifax, sent to that 'zone' of NB and then placed in local mail? So even 
 though the items may be individually dated, say the 15th, it can be around 
 end of month before they reach the customers, providing everything works. it 
 is suspected some of these can/do take longer. 
  
 We have received 'offers' for items or services that expire on the day the 
 mail item is received. Including in at least one instance from the Federal 
 Government demanding a reply by a certain date! Nobody seems to realize how 
 slow the mail is these days! 
  
 We look at, retain and file a paper statement or bill but the internet is 
 used more and more to check up on and pay, electronically many items! Since 
 it takes up to three 'business days' for some of those electronic 
 transactions to go through there would be precious little time to pay by the 
 deadline in some cases; so various procedures are used to identify the 
 different payment dates and/or post date payments. 
  
 The days of overnight postal delivery, to one's door including Saturdays 
 seem to be distant memory! In Canada? 
 Although I did read of a UK complaint about service being cut back to only 
 one delivery per day; on a Saturday! 
  
 Also;  a couple of years ago, reading a newspaper article about a Canadian 
 visitor to London. His UK friend had supper with him and he then travelled 
 to Scotland by evening train. Sitting at breakfast in his Scottish hotel 
 around 8.00 AM the next morning he was handed an envelope that his friend in 
 London had mailed after their supper the evening before. 
  
 Is the UK mail service still that good? Smaller country the UK, but seems 
 incredible to a Canadian? 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)