Marketing High or Low? USPS Advertises Paper Receipts

I was on the elliptical this morning with my ear buds in doing my best to make up for the bowl of queso I took down at Maudie's on 360 last night when one of the most absurd and fascinating commercials came on the TV in front of me.

Did you know the US Postal Service is officially advertising the mailing of paper receipts? I saw it! It's on TV, I swear!

Elliptical Reactions

My first thought was, Wow, that's a well done commercial. It was - it was pretty and the message made complete sense to me as both a small business owner and consumer. Remembering my recent experience with my Facebook account being hacked, I thought, You're right, USPS. My fridge door has never been hacked. It's much safer than my inbox. I should mail all my clients receipts.

My second thought was, Are you kidding me? Advertising the act of mailing stuff?

Evolve or Die, USPS

If I took a stand for my clients and the security of their private information by mailing their invoices and receipts, respectfully, I would still have to explain to them why I was spending so much on postage and making them wait by the mailbox three days after their service was completed instead of taking a peek at their smartphone on the way out of my office door.

Our brains don't speak slow anymore. Snail mail is dead. I am so sorry, but you missed the mark. Evolve your or kill your business.

Marketing High or Low?

I know the United States Postal Service has had a tough go of it recently, which probably really started with the advent of the fax machines and was certainly further pummeled by the internet and email. The recent buzz was that the organization was running out of money and may cut back on Saturday postal services. Poor USPS. So I understand what it is trying to do - reviving an old product and all. And from a professional standpoint, I also think that "mail is safer" is a pretty creative and viable approach to promoting its product.

But I also feel sad for marketing. From the Black Friday wars to the Panda scramble - what is next in marketing? Clearly, marketing snail mail to the busy small business owner is the answer.

What do you think?