It appears that the U.S. Postal Service has fallen behind by failing to keep up with newer methods of communicating: Sending and receiving correspondence has gone electronic.

Instead of whining about losing billions of dollars, USPS might look into modernizing its methods of selling word shipment.

Local post offices are important to every city and town. They are accessible, well lit, well maintained and reliable. By virtue of those facts, a post office is the ideal place to make all forms of communication available to everyone.

These ideas may rattle the bones of the stogy old institution: How about installing user-friendly, well-maintained card-operated fax machines, pay by the word (or minute) email service, Skype, printers and whatever new electonics would be applicable for sending and receiving messages?

Many service veterans have been trained in using and repairing these types of equipment, so a work force is readily available. This service would make keeping small post offices viable, be a great service in the communities and put veterans to work.

Two last thoughts. Those of us who buy just-released sheets of stamps would find it very helpful to be able to, at the same time, buy folders, holders, binders, sleeves and other bits necessary to preserve them.

Nonverbal conversations sent through cyberspace are mostly unrecorded. Unless people continue to write letters on paper, memories of the digital age will not be available to future historians.

I suggest everyone should write and send a letter a week. Getting a real letter in the mail is a wonderful thing.

Sheila Stratton, Augusta