Believing in the postal system

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

A WEEK ago I prepared the first batch of Christmas cards for family and friends back home. I want to mail early because I'm staying in North Carolina now and the cards will be sent to Cagayan de Oro, Manila, New Zealand and Cebu.

It was while I wrote the addresses of the recipients that I was struck with the thought that no matter how anarchic our mailing system is compared to the convenience offered by email, it is still dependable because it reaches the intended recipient.

Consider this---I have to send a Christmas card to Sterling Insurance at Don Apolinar Velez because this was where I used to hang out with my sister Betty Alombro who worked as a manager there before she migrated to New Zealand.

So I wrote the address “Sterling Insurance besides VIP hotel Velez Street.”

Next I addressed a Christmas card to former congressman Erasmo “Jun” Damasing at Puntod.

I didn't have the exact address so I just wrote it this way “Atty. Erasmo Damasing, Puntod, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.” Then I wrote one Christmas card to Atty. Annabel Carmen Casino Baluran and addressed it to branch 17, Hall of Justice in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.

Correct postal address

Then my husband Ronnie Dennis, who worked with the US Postal Office for 30 years, saw the address and told me “you couldn't do that, it should bear the zip code and complete address.” I didn't reply and just smiled.

I'm sending the mails even without the exact address so I knew the Christmas cards would reach the recipient. I don’t know how the post office would do it.

Ron Dennis surely knows the importance of a correct postal address.

But that's not how we Filipinos do it back home. The address is always written beside, the front, at the back, near or any description of the distance that a postman can understand.

There are mails that never reach the recipients but in fairness a majority of the mails are received due to the diligent efforts of the messengers.

Postmen are friends of the community, they reach the farthest barangay or village despite their meager travel allowance. I am reminded of the story of my grandfather who recounted that during his time, postmen can deliver mail simply by receiving verbal directions.

Correspondence

Here in the U.S, the postal addresses are specific. If it is 18605 Ruffner Driver- Apt 1-A Cornelius, NC 28031 it never changed. It also applies to one giving directions to other people.

The postal address enables the Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate people. In colonial times, correspondents depended on friends, merchants and native Americans to deliver messages between the colonies.

However, most correspondence ran between the colonists and England, their mother country. To handle the large volume of mail, the first postalservice was instituted in 1639.

The General Court of Massachusetts designated Richard Fairbanks' tavern in Boston as the official repository of mail brought from or sent overseas, in line with the practice in England and other nations to use coffee houses and taverns as mail drops.

Local authorities operated post routes within the colonies. Then, in 1673, Governor Francis Lovelace of New York set up a monthly post between New York and Boston.

Strong public support

The service was of short duration, but the post rider's trail became known as the Old Boston Post Road, part of today's U.S. Route 1.

William Penn established Pennsylvania's first post office in 1683. In the South, private messengers, usually slaves, connected the huge plantations; a hogs head of tobacco was the penalty for failing to relay mail to the next plantation.

But of course that is part of my readings about the U.S postal system- I still consider it superior despite looming news of proposals to close it due to budgetary concerns and the prevalence of email.

Still, there are Americans who would rather preserve the postal service due to its continuing historical value and functional relevance. 

It is this strong public support for the postal system that shores up my faith and belief that the Christmas cards I sent to my recipients, including Atty. Damasing would reach them. Damasing in particular is known by all postmen in Puntod.

(This article also appeared in Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro).