Where have all the Red Mailboxes gone?

I was thinking yesterday as I was looking to drop off some cards I had written:  where have all the red mail boxes gone? I remember growing up as a kid and they were literally EVERYWHERE!  They were practically on every street corner. I have come to the conclusion that Shoppers Drug Mart and the independent pharmacies are now the new wave of the red mail box.  I guess with e-mail people are writing less and less on stationary than they were 5 or even 10 years ago.   I still love the thrill of opening my mail box to find a card or letter in it.  Even a bill is okay too.  It’s a childhood thing.   Coming home from a week or two up at the cottage my sister and I would race from the car in the driveway to the front door to see what the postman had dropped off while we were away, or if it was a week day, “that sound” of the mail slot opening in our solid green wood front door, we’d tear down the stairs, sometimes two at a time.   Most of the time it was either a sales flyer or a utility bill, but there was always a letter or a card from someone.  E-mail’s great for instantly keeping in touch and connecting the world in seconds but for me, it’s about time.  Knowing, realizing or acknowledging that someone took the time to actually sit down and write out a thought or experience and then to go in search of a red mail box and deposit it.  It’s kind of like film photography –there’s that delay, it’s not instant.  And then, if you haven’t thrown it out, you’ve got something to look back and re-read.  Letters.  Cards.  Memories.  Connections with friends, new friends, relatives.  Do you remember the milk commercial tag line?  ”The faster life gets, the more sense milk makes“.  So where are all the red mailboxes going to?  Why are we not doing the present moment thing of communication any more.  Where is our creativeness going?  How come we’re not making the time to stop and smell the roses along the way?