Email vs Typed Snail Mail

[susans]

While I was sitting here working on a project, I realize 99% of my correspondence is now done by email.  Rarely do I send out a typed letter which requires and actual stamp and snail mail.  I was wondering if this is normal or not?  So I put this out to you.  How often do you type and send letters out, has it changed in the past years due to email?  Does it depend on the industry or the situation?  What do you have to say about this subject.

[duque]

We prefer email by far .... even our more "professional" letters are sent by email whenever possible, as an attachment. We only send letters by mail if we have to atach a tax claim, or if the addresse does not have an email.

The way we are going on, the postal service is loosing business with us :-)

[ecogirl]

Most of my work is dealing with legal documentation which is sent out for signature therefore it needs a covering letter to go with it which means I do send a lot by snail mail.  However I can still get over 100 e-mails a day from internal guys with new instructions so I'm pretty evenly split.

caroleanne

[officeguru]

Our department sends out lots of snail mail - physcian directories, benefit explanations, pay letters, denial, etc.... so for the 'outside' world, it's snail mail.  But all internal coorespondance is email.  

Even personally... it's mostly email now.  Not only do my brothers & sisters have email, but even my parents and my 13 yr old son (who lives with his father)... and I get more 'conversation' from him via email than I do trying to get 10 words out of him on the phone.    Have my daughter set up on email as well - but I only send her the occassional email to make her feel extra special (since noooobody evvvverrrr sends her email!! - can you tell she's a bit of a drama queen?).

I check in with the folks about every weekend or so, so unless I'm sending pics - I don't send them too much email.

[adminbydesign]

We use email when appropriate, but formally prepared correspondence is still important to my organization's business (commercial architectural design).   However, our employee manual is quick to point out that emails carry the same legal weight as hard copy correspondence, stressing the importance of "think twice before you hit the SEND button"!

[ozbound]

We don't send out very much snail-mail correspondence in the office I work in. Most of our communication is via phone, but e-mail is a close second. The managers even prefer e-mail because it it is quick but leaves a referenceable--and searchable--written correspondence trail.

[gee4]

If it's an official letter that really requires a signature from a manager or director, then a call will be taken on that.  However my boss normally sends the letter to me in an email to format and print on company headed paper.

G

[countrigal]

Very little e-mail communications, other than scheduling of office meetings and such.  All correspondence is hard-copy, snail-mail... and lots of it.  And I really don't see that changing much in the near future as most of our correspondence goes to veterans with attachments for their review and signature, or to doctor's offices and other hospitals and such which require signed documents to be attached.  And so far, scanning is not acceptable means of attaching those documents.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[tiffanyctd]

I can't remember the last time I used our letterhead! My boss got 1 ream of letterhead when they moved into this office 2 1/2 years ago, and I still have most of that ream here on my desk!
Tif

[catsmeat]

Masses of e-mail - I work with people overseas a lot, and e-mail's much faster.  In particular, I deal with a lot of people in African nations, where post can take weeks, even months, to get to its destination.  A fair proportion of my typed, signed stuff is only so because I need official signatures (invitation letters where visas are needed, etc).