Postmark idea is yet another slight to that other city on the bay
By SUE CARLTON
Published June 19, 2006
Oh, the indignity of it all.
It's not enough that St. Petersburg, an actual city in its own right, has to put up with local sports franchises named the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
All that national exposure, and nary a hint of St. Petersburg in the names. Sigh.
Now the Postal Service is considering taking away the St. Petersburg postmark on first-class mail.
The reasons make perfectly good sense. In the name of efficiency - and we know the Postal Service is all about efficiency - they're considering routing the city's first-class stamped mail to Tampa to be postmarked there.
Consolidating operations this way would save $1.3-million a year at a time when this kind of mail has declined significantly nationwide.
But to Tampa! To that gritty city across the bridge, that loud town that already gets all the attention anyway.
Never mind St. Petersburg's beaches, its green spaces, its charm, it bustling residential downtown, the kind that Tampa's still working on.
Never mind the light years St. Petersburg has come in shedding its sleepy image as God's Waiting Room, or The Land of Shuffleboard Courts. When a piece detailing the glories of this town appeared in the New York Times a couple of years ago, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker said, "Stories like this are wonderful because I remember for years never being able to read 'St. Petersburg' without seeing the word 'moribund.'" As in, about to die.
Anyway, this postmark business is probably our own fault.
We're too busy to wait. We want to talk to the person we want to talk to now, not three days from now.
Our cell phones, once novelties, have become critical appendages. We send faxes.
We use e-mail. We call the old-school kind "snail mail." Our fingers, permanently bent into claws from typing on keyboards, barely recall how to grip a pen.
For parties, we send e-vites instead of the enveloped kind - which may give Miss Manners the willies, but it's so easy.
Some of us even pay bills online, a level of efficiency I doubt I'll ever achieve. (Though not having to put a stamp on that monthly credit card bill is tempting. First the credit card company falls all over itself to pay the postage when you apply for the card, then they give you a stern warning with every bill: POST OFFICE WILL NOT DELIVER WITHOUT POSTAGE. Really? Who knew?)
Sure, we'll still stick a stamp on a Hallmark card now and again, but when's the last time you wrote a letter? Or got one in the mail? I miss letters. Not much fun checking the mailbox anymore.
All this e-mailing and such has taken its toll, according to USPS Suncoast District spokesman Gary Sawtelle.
Since 1998, the post office has handled 11-billion fewer pieces of first-class, single-piece stamped mail nationwide. Saving money is part of trying to keep customer rates stable, he said.
But what about a community's identity?
Think about the significance of postmarks on old postcards, wedding invitations, letters and other mail that become part of a family's history. There's something to be said for an official mark that accurately reflects where it came from.
History and accuracy can get lost in consolidation.
Postal officials say you would still be able to get that local postmark at the post office. But that takes time and effort, and it's not the same.
They got an earful from folks opposed to the change at a public meeting last week. Sawtelle said they will also consider written comments as long as they're postmarked by June 28. (Remember, the post office will not deliver without proper postage.) You can send your thoughts to Michael Rodriguez, Manager of Consumer Affairs, 6013 Benjamin Road, Suite 201, Tampa (sorry), FL 33634-5144.)
Sawtelle said the final decision will be made in Washington, D.C. sometime after that.
A postscript: The Postal Service may also consider a "Greater Tampa Bay" postmark.
Ouch.
Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this column. Sue Carlton can be reached at carlton@sptimes.com.