From faraway places, when distance, itself, was exotic, arrived the card or letter with the circular postmark from the post office where it was mailed.
The postage was "canceled" by human hand, later passed through machines. But the cancellation was in this traditional form a fertile object for contemplation, a proof of authenticity. (In the century before last, postmasters were noted for their hand-carved "fancy cancels."
In the mind's eye, one could assay the hundreds or thousands of miles and many human hands that passed by. And then, these few jotted words from a loved one -- writing with awe on the lip of the Grand Canyon.
In recent years, the U.S. Postal Service quietly has replaced the traditional postmark with a computerized, ink-jetted cancellation. Letters are processed in regional centers and spit out the other end like this:
PITTSBURGH PA 152
08 MAY 2006PM 2 T
Plus some squiggly lines over the postage stamp.
One might still obtain hand cancellations on special request, but the ordinary character of the mail is changed forever.
This is about parallels. The same lines of thinking that brought us alternatives to the mail, such as instantaneous e-mail and Web sites for bill-paying, bring us further automation by the Postal Service.
Stamp and postmark collectors are unhappy. But their collections will be highly prized. The deepening patina of obsolescence and age is quite fetching.
-- Gery Steighner
