A World Without the Postman

The age of email and tariffs is slowly killing a system that once knit together communities, brought news of love and death, and gave us the romance of the letter that never arrived

- Sandip Roy

My friend Milena was going postal. She had painstakingly gathered 20 cards and notes from her mother's old friends for her birthday—her first grade best friend from 1946, her fencing club partner from 1959, her friend who went on a study trip with her to Tunisia in 1965 all the way up to her current physiotherapist and dental hygienists.

She mailed the package from Berlin to her mother's home in upstate New York as a birthday surprise.

Milena got a birthday shock instead. Every day she checked in on the parcel, trying to track its progress. By the time the package finally reached, the birthday was over. It had taken 21 days and given Milena a migraine.

"From now onwards, I will use personal couriers only," she told me. As in friends and acquaintances carrying packages as a favour.

She might have no other choice. Declining mail is affecting post offices all over the world. US President Donald Trump's tariffs have made it worse. Goods valued under $800 that previously entered the US without needing customs clearance now need to be vetted and can be subject to whatever tariff rate the Trump administration has slapped on that country. Many countries are pausing certain kinds of mail to America. India, for example, has suspended booking all categories of mail, including letters and parcels, valued up to $100.

The age of e-mail wreaked havoc on snail mail. But no one imagined it would lead to no mail. In fact, at this rate, my friend Milena might soon no longer be able to go postal. No one will quite know what it even means.