July 14, 2008
One of the webcomics I read doesn't really sell anything, but does offer computer desktop images in return for donations. So from time to time I "buy" a wallpaper JPEG.
Since I don't see any point in giving PayPal a cut for doing next to nothing in exchange for a handful of bits, I send my donation via snail mail. In order to avoid just sending an envelope full of cash (and to provide an e-mail address for the author to send the image to) I wrap the money in a short letter.
About half the time, the author responds to something in the letter in the wallpaper e-mail. But this person is always prompt.
I wrote my letter on Saturday afternoon, and put it and the money in an envelope. Then the techie part of my brain disassociated from the nature of the USPS -- by Sunday afternoon I was waiting for a reply to my letter. That was still sitting in the bottom of the mailbox, not picked up until Monday afternoon.
(Just to wrap up, the letter would have been picked up on Monday, and probably didn't get to its destination until after the July 4th weekend. I got my e-mail on Wednesday the 9th, 7 USPS-days after it was sent. Given that the comic author provides a PO box instead of a street address, for obvious reasons, I'd say that's pretty punctual for a transfer protocol nicknamed "snail mail.")
