It may come as a shock (no?), but this is about as technologically advanced as the U.S. Post Office Department was during postwar holiday seasons. Only in the late ’50s did sorting machines come into widespread use. But it still takes a human being to get the box from Aunt Gert into little Susie’s eager hands in time for Christmas. Many a mail carrier–Einar Kling of Batavia was one the Tribune spotlighted in the ’60s–went out on his appointed rounds on Christmas Day to make sure the job was done.
Days it took a dollar bill sealed in clear plastic and mailed with proper postage to reach its destination in a 2000 experiment: 6. Days it took a $20 bill: 4.
Letters to Santa from New York children that were routed through an anthrax decontamination facility in 2001 before being delivered to the North Pole: 400,000.
Percentage of consumers who prefer a humorous message in their holiday cards: 38. Percentage who prefer a religious message: 29.
