You’ve Got Mail!
Unless you’re in Mexico
In 2022, U.S. president Joe Biden signed into law a sweeping overhaul of the of the U.S. Postal Service. One thing this overhaul did was save the U.S. from a proposed reduction in mail service from 6 days a week to a mere 5. If you’re in the U.S., you can take comfort in knowing that for the foreseeable future, you will get bills, insurance statements, credit card offers, real estate flyers, clothing catalogs, and other paper products that you can immediately toss in your recycle bin (you do toss bills in there, right?)
Mexico also has a national postal service - the Correos de México. Unlike the United States Postal Service, Mexico’s isn’t going to deliver you any bills, flyers, or catalogs this Saturday. Or any other day. And honestly, this might be the best part about living in Mexico.
OK, I’m exaggerating. Maybe it’s not the best part about living in Mexico, but it’s a pretty damn good one.
So what - one might reasonably ask - does Correos de México do exactly if they aren’t delivering Land’s End catalogs? Well, they do deliver letters and parcels. But receiving letters and parcels via Correos de México is such a rare event, that it is likely they will only infrequently visit your home to wedge mail into your gate or throw it over your fence (because, you see, you don’t have a mailbox). Correos de México is also where you take your letters to be mailed (they’re not going to pick it up at your house - seriously, what kind of fantasy world do you live in?). You can take your packages there too, but you really probably shouldn’t. Take those to DHL or some other 3rd-party delivery service. And that letter you want to mail internationally? Do also take that to DHL, if timeliness is a critical factor in whatever you are sending.
But how - one might also reasonably ask - am I going to be reminded to pay my electric bill if a government employee doesn’t hand-deliver it to me? In Mexico, many of the utility companies have their own fleet of couriers to deliver these things to your home every month, or more likely bimonthly1. Also, in Mexico they have this amazing combination of complimentary technologies called “the internet” and “email” and “sms” - which the utility companies use to their advantage in helping to remind you that you need to send them money to keep the lights on.
Meanwhile...
In the U.S., it has always seemed to me that the primary function of the postal system is to service consumerism. As a function of mail weight and volume, product-lust is the undeniable result of government employees coming to your house on a daily-minus-one basis to convey to you things you never asked for.
Does this make the U.S. mail system some sort of inherently evil enterprise? Certainly not. It just makes me glad that Mexico doesn’t follow suit.
“Bimonthly” is a stupid word (which is why I feel uniquely qualified to use it) because it means both “twice a month” and “once every two months”. In this case, it means the latter.
When I lived in the states (Seattle), my house had a fireplace and junk mail came in handy. Here in Mexico, I rarely receive anything but when we do, they kind of wedge it between the gate. Mostly though, I stay connected to these things (bills) electronically. We don't need no stinking mailbox. (sorry, Humphrey and crew)
I imagine (it's been a long time) that the USPS mostly delivers waste products these days, and I'm not sure why it was important to keep it at 6 days a week.
By the way, I could never keep "bimonthly" straight and always avoided using it. I see why, now. That ones should be exiled to the back of the dictionary where nobody would think to look.
Oh love this one, Mike. Don Chevo, may he RIP, was our mail person for so many years. He rather epitomized the system bc he always had lumbego and could never deliver the mail. It’s almost impossible to describe the system, if it’s even that. Our contractor told us early on, never send anything of value through Mexico mail. But of course as you mention, everyone works around it and life goes on.