No one writes paper and envelope letters anymore, but everyone shops online. Although the number of first class mailings has dropped significantly for the US Postal Service over the last few years, the number of packages they delivered has managed to pick up a lot of slack:

At a recent conference that attracted 15,000 eBay enthusiasts to Las Vegas, the main sponsor was a big advocate of online shopping: the U.S. Postal Service.

"I have one message today for the entire eBay community," Postmaster General John Potter said in a speech. "We love every buyer, every seller, every power seller. Thank you for shipping with the United States Postal Service."

As people send e-mail and e-cards instead of handwritten letters and greetings, as they pay more of their bills online and file their tax returns electronically, the Postal Service has started to seem outdated.

Yet the Internet is actually injecting new life, and sorely needed revenue, into the Postal Service. And it is happening with packages, millions of them shipped every day, in a journey that starts with a few mouse clicks and ends days later at a customer's door.

...via Smart Mobs