In our recent discussion of the decline of US Mail as a communication medium, I forget one factor:
Many organizations (public and private) now discourage unsolicited mail. At one time an organization always prominently displayed its mailing address and encouraged letters from the public for use as feedback. I notice now many do not show their address prominently any more, if they even show it at all. They strongly encourage the use of email or forms on-line for feedback.
I once wrote to a TV show and the postcard was refused and returned. The refusal stamp referred to the web page. So much for "keep those cards and letters coming in".
I presume there are two reasons for discouraging conventional mail:
1) cost, 2) safety.A letter requires someone of reasonable skill to read it, analyze it, take action, and write a letter back. That's expensive. Web page forms have check off boxes and subject selections to speed handling. A response can be quickly banged in on a terminal, and the email forwarded electronically to the proper dept, or tallied automatically for statistics.
I also suspect companies simply aren't as interested in what the general public thinks, especially unsolicited comments. They depend on specially chosen focus groups and marketing studies which admittedly are probably more accurate than a random receipt of written comments.
Secondly, I recall the anthrax scare of 9/11. Organizations were very nervous of mailed dangers. Other countries suffered with mail bombs.
email from an on-line form on the Web. But is it as effective? Well, I wrote two traditional letters and we'll see what kind of response I get.