Posted: 6/18/03

Oh, how the mail has changed and for the worse

Jan Charais came marching into my office the other morning as she always does that time of day. ìThatís it, there wasnít much mail,î she said, handing me two scant pieces of news department mail she had retrieved just minutes before from the Post Office. There was almost an apologetic tone to her voice as she completed her morning rounds.

Itís Janís job here at the paper to pick up the mail each day. She does it faithfully and promptly, but in recent days the time she spends sorting mail for internal distribution is shrinking.

It wasnít always that way.

It doesnít seem like all that long ago when Jan would arrive on her morning rounds with a huge stack of mail that would fill her two small arms.

This doesnít mean the mail has stopped, but it has changed in how it comes. And I think it is changing for the worse.

Be it business or home, anyone with a computer and email these days is more than likely experiencing this change.

Each day at work, usually before Janís morning arrival, I open my email from overnight. Each day the slug of mail coming in gets longer and longer.

Some are legitimate items a newspaper needs and wants to receive. Many of the news releases that once filtered into my office via Janís morning delivery now come electronically. That is fine although Iím sure the U.S. Postal Service would just as soon like to be the one delivering the mail.

But in this electronic age, there appears to be no end to what will hit our computers via email.

Yes, some are legitimate and wanted messages, but more and more they are junk that we donít need, nor want to see, let alone read.

Hereís a sample of what hit my computer one day last week:

ïWeight loss while you sleep.

ïDigital cable descramblers are here.

ïGreat rates on life insurance.

ïYour home mortgage has been approved.

ïFree prescriptions, limited time offer.

ïViagra, prescribed online free.

ïGovernment free loan program.

ïBanned CD (My last chance and I only get three or four a day!)

You get the picture. The list goes on and it does get worse.

The number of ìadultî theme emails that flow in are alarming and shocking. Some contain images that would make a sailor blush. Most have links to web sites.

Makes me wonder about kids sitting at home on the computer. Are they not seeing this slop, too?

Weíve taken some steps internally to at least try to control. We have ìspam blockerî and it works at filtering out many of the suspicious emails and those which contain a detected virus that can mess up a computer system.

But it is not foolproof and those parties responsible for sending the junk mail have become creative in finding ways to beat the system.

Some of the junk mail contains a seemingly innocent or harmless subject title and is delivered to a mail box. You open the mail, and almost immediately hit the delete key. It is not uncommon to end up with a 100 plus messages in the trash at the end of a normal day. On a Monday or after several days out of the office, the number soars.

The ingenious mail senders have also found ways to hide their true identity. Some of the incoming messages carry my own email address, or the address of a colleague at one of our other offices.

If my old pal Howard Lestrud is writing, I tend to open the mail, but sometimes get a surprise. It isnít Howard writing at all, but some scumbag from who knows where.

Our ìspam blockerî also has a habit of filtering out legitimate mail, I suppose because of a suspicious subject title.

The time consumed by the business sector today in dealing with junk mail has to be staggering and costly. It may not be costly as you sit at your home computer but it is aggravating when you open worthless mail.

What can be done? Thatís a good question.

During a recent Chamber of Commerce gathering in Forest Lake, Sixth District Congressman Mark Kennedy was asked that question. He understands the problem, but short of sympathy didnít seem overly anxious to help.

Kennedy made it clear he didnít feel any government involvement in steps to control junk mail would be the best. He is of the belief that keeping government out of the mix is the best answer and allowing the private sector to deal with the problem is proper.

Iím not so sure, not when we face a problem in which we can do so little to control. Maybe the government needs to get involved.

There has been repeated fear across this great land that the government may one day institute a charge for each email sent. The rumors have the Postal Service behind the idea, naturally.

No one likes the idea of paying for email use but it might be one way to put the clamps on the junk mailers who flood our computers daily. I might be willing to spend a dime if it helps eliminate a host of unwanted emails.

As I sort through these electronic correspondents each day I can only sigh and think back to those golden days when Jan would bounce into my office with a stack of mail ó Post Office mail ó that would be a foot-tall.

And I canít remember one letter in the stack with a Viagra solicitation or an offer to meet some lonely-heart babe in Russia.

Top of Page