Why do we use the post office?

Before the time of the internet, the telephone, or even the telegraph, mail communication was a primary way of contacting others in faraway places, when actually travelling there would have taken days, weeks, or months. Mail continues to be a primary way in which shared communication occurs over long distances. However, it has been largely supplanted by message services handled electronically (e-mail), rather than by hard copy, human-delivered postal systems.