A Pre-9/11 Mentality

Jesse Walker | December 2, 2006

The Associated Press reports:

Hundreds of pieces of mail destined for the former World Trade Center still arrive every day at a post office facing ground zero....Telephone bills, insurance statements, wine club announcements, college alumni newsletters, even government checks populate the bundles of mail. Each one bears the postal code once reserved exclusively for the twin towers: 10048.

"I guess sooner or later they'll realize the towers aren't back up," said letter carrier Seprina Jones, who handles the trade center mail. "I don't know when."

Comments

|12.2.06 @ 2:51PM|#

Bulk mailers are supposed to regularly scan and purge their lists.

|12.2.06 @ 3:27PM|#

Sam-Hec

But most of the time they say "or current occupant." So long as *someone* is reading the ads, they will keep sending them.

brian423|12.2.06 @ 3:47PM|#

It eerily reminds me of the Ray Bradbury story about a heavily automated home that still makes coffee for the inhabitants-even though they've all been killed in World War III.

|12.2.06 @ 3:54PM|#

In case any of you are curious, the story brian423's referring to is called "There Will Come Soft Rains".

|12.2.06 @ 4:14PM|#

Hey, I read that! It was creepy.

|12.2.06 @ 5:33PM|#

Completely off topic:

Brietbart.com reports that Oscar winning, multimillionaire actress Gwynneth Paltrow, now living in England, "Much prefers the English lifestyle." She disparages Americans for our "capitalistic" culture and lack of "intelligent dinner conversation."

Yeah, Gwynnie....now that you've made your millions off us stateside schlubs, you can retire to the life of a landed English aristocrat.

She should be cast in the title role the next time they make a movie about Marie Antoinette.

And I actually liked her in 'Shakespeare in Love'.

|12.2.06 @ 5:48PM|#

Wow! Ms. Paltrow is a shallow, vain, Hollywood dimbulb? Who'd a thunk it?

Any Guy|12.2.06 @ 6:15PM|#

And to think there was a time when, if given the opportunity, I would have done her.

Wait, that time is still now.

|12.2.06 @ 6:27PM|#

Wait until she has a long talk with a tax attorney. Wouldn't you like to be the fly on the wall then?

|12.2.06 @ 7:25PM|#

we still get mail at my dad's home for my great grandmother who passed in 1986 despite our best attempts to stop it.

brian423|12.2.06 @ 7:35PM|#

Thank you, Senescent.

|12.2.06 @ 8:10PM|#

Wonder what happens to all those government checks?

uncle sam|12.2.06 @ 8:56PM|#

We still get mail for my in-laws and they've been dead well over a year. I used to put stickers saying "Return to Sender, Recipient deceased" on the mail.

|12.2.06 @ 10:26PM|#

Admit it, you just posted this story for the funny heading. "Pre 9/11 mentality". Ha

|12.2.06 @ 11:42PM|#

uncle sam

I wouldn't be surprised if you started getting bulk mail addressed to "Recipient Deceased."

Actually, I think I will try that with the next company that asks me to fill in a form "for information only."

|12.3.06 @ 1:10AM|#

We can all chime in on this one.
I still receive some mail for each of my parents, who died in the twentieth century and never lived at my current address. (So far as I know, neither of them voted in the last election.)

|12.3.06 @ 2:52AM|#

Somebody in Russia made the Bradbury story into a short film. Check it out here...

|12.3.06 @ 3:00AM|#

Ms. Paltrow is a shallow, vain, Hollywood dimbulb? Who'd a thunk it?

The Brietbart quote in entirety: "I love the English lifestyle, it's not as capitalistic as America. People don't talk about work and money, they talk about interesting things at dinner,"

J sib D, I hope you take this in the spirit intended (mildly humorus jab filled with irony) but has it occured to you that Ms. Paltrow prefers Brits because she feels Americans are shallow and vain?.

|12.3.06 @ 3:31AM|#

..."you're so vain; you probly think this thread is about you"...

|12.3.06 @ 5:33AM|#

The actual quote from Paltrow is not as bad as MarkV led us to believe (oh, Marky, you rascal you). Seems to me she's just saying England's less of a rat race - it undoubtedly is.
In any event, she's entitled to her opinion (hell, there are things about our "capitalist" culture that I don't much care for). Some people have too much free time on their hands.

Ron Hardin|12.3.06 @ 8:11AM|#

Dead people can unsubscribe at the national direct mail site

Reginleif|12.3.06 @ 10:07AM|#

Hey, now. Dead people deserve greeting cards and such, too. Just wait 'til you're dead and no one sends you anything.

|12.3.06 @ 11:51AM|#

J sib D, I hope you take this in the spirit intended (mildly humorus jab filled with irony) but has it occured to you that Ms. Paltrow prefers Brits because she feels Americans are shallow and vain?.

Well, It's been a long while since I lived in Southern California and things may have changed since then. But interesting conversations weren't that difficult to find when I lived there. I submit that if you can't find witty, intelligent conversation, self examination might be more useful than relocating.

She's correct that England is not as capitalistic as America. I'm wouldn't necessarily call that a good thing.

|12.3.06 @ 12:59PM|#

...self examination might be more useful than relocating.

True. Witty, intelligent conversation is - to some extent - in the eye of the beholder. I will say, though, intelligent conversation with my fellow Americans these days can be a bit of a minefield.

Seems to me, it used to be we could all agree that all politicians were pretty much scum and worthy of ridicule. The partisan crap of the past few years has made even gentle slamming of politicians a minefield.

People take party crap too damn seriously these days. It's really easy to get unfairly labeled or get someone overly offended by saying the wrong thing about someone's favorite pol.

I'm a moderate who leans left on somethings, right on others and libertarianish with increasing frequency. In other words, I am hardly a liberal. But I sure do get labeled as one if I open my mouth in the wrong setting.

|12.3.06 @ 1:24PM|#

The partisan crap of the past few years has made even gentle slamming of politicians a minefield.

People take party crap too damn seriously these days. It's really easy to get unfairly labeled or get someone overly offended by saying the wrong thing about someone's favorite pol.

No arguments here. I've been called a hippie radical and a right wing fascist while discussing politics. With some (many?) people, I no longer will discuss politics with.

BTW, I always find it humorous when someone with an eight figure net worth derides the society that they acquired it in as selfish or too capitalist.

|12.3.06 @ 7:30PM|#

Yes Gywneth England is less Capitalistic it's just more Imperialisyic! They didn't like to trade for what they wanted they just went in and took it.

|12.3.06 @ 7:35PM|#

BTW, I always find it humorous when someone with an eight figure net worth derides the society that they acquired it in as selfish or too capitalist.

Sometimes it's just a matter of those who don't have have to work hard to earn a lot of money condemning those who do.

I consider that people who do that are just kind of clueless.

|12.3.06 @ 9:37PM|#

See, England is better than America, because in England, they don't make sweeping generalizations about an entire nation people, like Americans do. (Instead they discuss the finer points of English culture, like the Fat Slags.)

|12.3.06 @ 9:50PM|#

One thing that kinda bugs me about people who compare various European countries to the US is that in many ways it is more appropriate to compare individual EU countries to individual US states or regions. England may be usefully compared to New England, Germany to the Midwest, California to France, etc. This would recognize the cultural diversity of both continents, and avoid many of the inaccurate generalizations that seem to cause confusion on both sides of the pond.

wayaway|12.4.06 @ 3:00AM|#

Aah the Fat Slags - sheer genius...