Before We’re Uberized
Writing in the local paper. Local Issues with a global take. I never translate literally and the editor trims at will to make it fit. Here’s my version, then theirs.
I have a soft spot for the
Spanish postal system. Back at the turn of the millennium my mother and I
decided to walk the Camino Santiago…in January.
By the time we finally got
started the weather was fine enough but what did become painfully clear after our
first day’s walk was that there was absolutely no way my mom was going to make it with the
mobile home that she was carrying on her back.
The next morning she hobbled
into a post office and mailed the backpack to herself in Santiago where it
awaited us after our pilgrimage. It all seemed so efficient and I have carried
that impression with me ever since. In fact, one of the first places I remember
seeing a numbered waiting line here in Spain was at the post office.
Before
these magic machines were introduced, I had always suffered trying to figure
out whose turn it really was or worse, explaining in my rudimentary Spanish to elderly women
in the fish shop that I had been waiting much longer than they had. So imagine
my surprise when I walked into the post office the other day and asked for a
book of stamps and was met by a surprised look.
I had already been to two or
three tobacco shops where I was told they no longer sold them, so I thought I
would go directly to the source. It’s not that they don’t sell stamps at the
post office, it’s just that it isn’t very common anymore and the teller wasn’t
even sure where they were kept anymore. Fifteen minutes later, after a thorough
search, I had my stamps in my hand but the entire episode made me think of how
quickly things can change.
It wasn’t so long ago that those magical stickers were
the only way to share news with far away friends whereas now, ideas are shared faster
than it takes to drop a letter into a postbox. Taxis aren’t the only ones
facing extinction in the uberization of society but until letters disappear
completely, I’ll keep believing in the magic of the mail.
