– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

[Applause]

Neither snow nor rain, nor heat, nor

gloom of night shall keep these couriers

from the swift completion of their

appointed rounds. Now, this phrase was

carved on the main post office building

in New York City. And for this reason,

many people came to believe that it

represented the motto of the postal

service. But this phrase actually comes

from an ancient account of the heroic

messengers during the Greek and Persian

wars written 2500 years

ago. But the sentiment still remains the

same that no matter the circumstances,

the mail must flow.

And for this reason, it's come to

reflect the core mission of the US Post

Office, which is to ensure that all

Americans at every address, no matter

how remote, stay

connected. Now, this core mission is at

risk. The postal service is failing

financially.

It is creating an environmental

mess and it is eroding the public trust

as it struggles to adapt to a digital

world. Now the mail has played a central

role in our history including right here

in Breenidge,

Colorado. We have our own heroic

messenger and his name was Father John

Dyer.

He was a minister, a minor, and a

mailman. And in the mid mid 1800s,

Father Dyer would strap on homemade

snowshoes and make the dangerous trek

over the mountain passes between

Breenidge and

Leadville to minister and deliver the

mail. But Father Dyer was more than a

mailman. He was a connector. and he

played a vital role in connecting many

isolated mining communities that played

an important part in Colorado becoming

our 38th state in

1876. But Father Dyer's story is also an

important reminder that the mail is more

than just about delivering

letters. It is about

resilience, public service, and

connecting people.

Let's fast forward a century or two and

for me I have this image like a Norman

Rockwell painting of a courageous postal

carrier trudging through the snow like a

blue suited Santa

Claus delivering letters and packages to

152 million homes six

days every week. Now, for generations,

collecting the mail was more than just a

daily routine. It was a brief moment of

excitement. What would arrive that day?

Perhaps it was a card from a loved one,

a long awaited check, or maybe the

latest issue of your favorite

magazine. You see, we depended on this

regular type of mail to connect and

communicate.

Businesses would send us bills and

statements and notices in the mail. We

would write checks. We would write

letters. We'd fill out forms and we

would return them in the mail. Having

stamps in your house was essential as

milk and eggs. In fact, you could buy

stamps at the grocery

store. But today, this regular type of

mail is no longer central to how we

connect and we communicate.

Now, you've probably heard the term big

tobacco or big

pharma. Tonight, I'm going to introduce

you to a new term. It's called big

mailing. You see, in 2023, the US

mailing industry generated

$1.9 trillion in economic activity. That

makes it significantly larger than big

pharma and big tobacco combined.

Just to put that into context for you,

that means that on average, every

mailbox you have ever seen, mine, yours,

everybody in this rooms, those mailboxes

are worth between 10 and

$12,000 per

year. Your mailbox is a really big

business. And the US mailing industry,

big mailing, they want to keep it that

way whether you like it or not.

In my professional life, I study the

customer communications industry. And

the way I normally describe this is the

things that arrive in your mailbox. Or

should I say the things that used to

arrive in your mailbox. You see, today

most of us get our regular mail. Those

monthly bills and statements, they show

up in our email inbox, not our mailbox.

Mobile apps, websites have replaced

stamps and

envelopes. And as this regular mail

starts to disappear from our daily

routines, the postal service is looking

to another type of mail to keep the

system

afloat. You know it as junk

mail. You see, today we are going to our

mailboxes less and less often. Not

because we're too busy, but because we

don't expect to find anything of value

there anymore. What used to be a daily

routine has turned into a

realworld spam folder, chuck full of

junk mail and solicitations we did not

ask for.

It's estimated that each one of us

receives between 300 and 850 pieces of

unsolicited advertising mail every year

and that as much as 60% of that goes

directly into

landfills. Now, you would expect the

environmental impact of this is pretty

big and it is. 100 million trees are

harvested to make the

paper. And the production, delivery, and

disposal of junk mail is the carbon

footprint equivalent of 2 million cars

on the road every

year. But here's the

kicker. Junk mail, direct mail,

advertising mail, as the industry would

like me to call it, is actually

extremely effective. In fact, it is one

of the most engaging forms of

advertising there is. You see, every

piece of advertising mail you've seen in

your mailbox, its goal in life is to

make this dangerous journey from your

mailbox to your kitchen

counter. Most will not survive that

journey, right? But the few that do make

it all worthwhile for

marketers and the rest that go into the

bin, they are just casualties in the war

for our attention. A battle that is

being fought at 152 million homes just

about every day of the

week. So you might ask, why why is this

stuff so prevalent?

Well, it's because in part it is so

effective, but it's also because we have

some of the lowest postage rates in the

entire

world. There are only four countries

that have a lower first class postage

rate than we do here in the United

States.

And this combination of effectiveness

and low postage rates has created a

toxic sort of

codependency between the US postal

service and big mailing.

You see, the postal service has given up

value to get the volume that it needs to

continue to deliver mail to every

address, no matter how

remote. Now, the postal service is a

self-supporting government-owned entity,

and it has been losing money for years.

Last year, it lost $9.5 billion dollar.

This year it's expected to lose six or

more. The delivering for America plan

says that they're hoping to break even

by the year 2030. Fingers

crossed. Now, I don't know how many

other privatelyowned businesses could

function in this way, but there's a fair

question to ask, which

is, is the post office too big to

fail? And if it

does, who's going to pay that bill?

And we know the answer. We are. The

American taxpayers are going to pay that

bill. But there is perhaps a deeper and

more concerning issue. You see, our

faith and our trust in the postal

service is quickly

eroding. Delivery times are lagging and

frequently unpredictable.

I recently documented the case of a

letter that was mailed to me from a town

23 miles

away. And this letter traveled all the

way to Buffalo, New York, traveling

3,000 mi to come

back, taking 12 days to reach my home,

only 23 miles away. And as perplexing as

this is, unfortunately, it is not

uncommon. We're also all familiar with

home deliveries and online shopping, but

those boxes, those packages, those

parcels, those items are completely

overwhelming the postal

system. especially impacted our local

post offices like we have here in

Breenidge and their delivery vehicles.

You are probably see probably

experiencing delays and frustration in

receiving parcels and packages through

the

mail. You see the postal

system was built to deliver letters not

boxes, packages and parcels.

But there is one more element that is

eroding our faith in the postal system.

You see, in 2021, I lost my oldest son

to ventil

poisoning. And that is a tragedy that

was tied to counterfeit pills being

delivered through the mail. And

sometimes I wonder to myself, I think

whatever happened to that blue suited

Santa

Claus. But despite all of

this, the male remains essential to all

of

us. You see, the mail doesn't care about

your age, your race, your background,

your immigration status. All you need is

a

stamp and an

address, making the mail one of the most

accessible forms of communication that

we

have. And for people in remote

communities, uh the elderly, those with

limited internet access, the mail is an

essential lifeline for things like

healthc care information, financial

documents, and other critical

information. In the 2024 presidential

election, 35% or about 53 million votes

were cast using early and mail-in

ballots. And there's one more thing

about the mail that you may not think

about, and that is that the mail plays

an increasingly important role in our

digital futures. You see, we live in a

world of artificial

intelligence and

authenticity will become perhaps one of

the greatest challenges we will face as

a society. And the male will play a role

in helping validate not only our

identity, but the fact that we're

actually a real human being.

So if the mail fails, millions of people

are going to be cut off from an

essential

service. Our digital futures could be

significantly more challenging and our

very

democracy could be put at

risk. So the challenges that we face are

not unique. In fact, nearly every postal

system in the world is dealing with

similar issues. So the question

is how do we secure a future for the US

mail that is

sustainable and

efficient? Well, in certain

countries, advertising mail, junk mail,

has been banned entirely. It doesn't

exist. And digital communications have

taken over just about all other forms of

regular mail.

Elsewhere, postal systems charge

considerably more than we do here for

all classes of mail, which has forced

businesses to find alternative ways of

communicating with their

customers. Also, in some countries,

consumers like us have much more control

over the use of their data, including

the things that arrive in their mailbox.

And

lastly, do we really need the mail

delivered six days a

week? In New Zealand and just recently

in the UK, it's been announced that

they're going to reduce mail delivery

from six days to just three days a week

for certain classes of

mail. You see, it's my belief that

physical paper mail should be uncommon.

It should be environmentally sustainable

and it should be

reliable. And if it is, it's going to

actually our it's actually going to

increase the our the value to us as it

focuses on essential communications and

secure package

delivery. So transforming the US Postal

Service is not about

nostalgia or making the mail great

again.

It's about returning to the core

mission. It's about returning to the

core

mission of serving all of us at every

address, no matter how remote, and not

just bending to the needs of the big

mailing industry.

You see, we need a postal service that's

financially stable, that charges for the

value that it delivers. We need one that

is respectful of the earth and

eliminates waste wherever

possible. And we need the mail to serve

as a very important anchor point in an

increasingly digital world.

Neither snow nor rain, nor heat, nor

gloom of night shall keep these couriers

from the swift completion of their

appointed

rounds. The mail has a rich history. It

is a legacy that has touched all of us.

So the next time you go to your mailbox,

think about those heroic messengers.

Think about what the mail has meant to

you. And consider what Father John Dyer

might say about our appointed

rounds. That they're not just about

delivering letters. It's about

delivering human

connection. And that is what we must

preserve. Thank you.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
mail /meɪl/ A2	noun - letters, packages, or other items delivered by the postal service verb - to send something through the postal service
deliver /dɪˈlɪvər/ A2	verb - to bring something to a person or place
connect /kəˈnekt/ B1	verb - to link or join things together
trust /trʌst/ B1	noun - belief in the reliability or honesty of someone or something verb - to have confidence in someone or something
remote /rɪˈmoʊt/ B2	adjective - far away in distance or time
financial /faɪˈnænʃəl/ B1	adjective - related to money or finance
junk /dʒʌŋk/ B1	noun - unwanted or useless items, often referring to mail adjective - of very poor quality
postal /ˈpoʊstəl/ B2	adjective - related to the postal service or mail
service /ˈsɜːrvɪs/ A2	noun - a system or organization that provides help or work
erode /ɪˈroʊd/ C1	verb - to gradually destroy or weaken something
essential /ɪˈsenʃəl/ B1	adjective - absolutely necessary or important
sustainable /səˈsteɪnəbəl/ B2	adjective - able to be maintained over time without causing damage
mission /ˈmɪʃən/ B2	noun - a task or goal that someone is trying to achieve
courier /ˈkʊriər/ B2	noun - a person or company that transports messages, goods, or documents
appointed /əˈpɔɪntɪd/ B2	adjective - designated or scheduled for a particular purpose
swift /swɪft/ B2	adjective - happening quickly or immediately
completion /kəmˈpliːʃən/ B2	noun - the act of finishing or completing something
central /ˈsentərəl/ B1	adjective - at the center or most important

Key Grammar Structures

• But this phrase actually comes from an ancient account of the heroic messengers during the Greek and Persian wars written 2500 years ago.

  ➔ Present Perfect Passive Voice

  ➔ This is a participle describing the account, showing an action completed in the past with ongoing relevance: "written" (written) 2500 years ago.

• Now the mail has played a central role in our history including right here in Breenidge, Colorado.

  ➔ Present Perfect Tense

  ➔ Used to describe an action started in the past and continuing to the present: "has played" (has played) a role in our history.

• We depended on this regular type of mail to connect and communicate.

  ➔ Past Simple Tense

  ➔ Expresses a completed action in the past: "depended" (depended) on the mail.

• And this letter traveled all the way to Buffalo, New York, traveling 3,000 mi to come back, taking 12 days to reach my home, only 23 miles away.

  ➔ Infinitive of Purpose

  ➔ Infinitive phrases explaining purpose: "to come back" (to come back) and "to reach" (to reach) my home.

• Businesses would send us bills and statements and notices in the mail.

  ➔ Second Conditional

  ➔ Expresses a hypothetical past or general situation: "would send" (would send) if conditions were different.

• What used to be a daily routine has turned into a realworld spam folder, chuck full of junk mail and solicitations we did not ask for.

  ➔ Relative Clause

  ➔ Describes or gives extra information: "we did not ask for" (for which we did not ask) the solicitations.

• But the few that do make it all worthwhile for marketers and the rest that go into the bin, they are just casualties in the war for our attention.

  ➔ Present Simple in Relative Clauses

  ➔ Defines the noun with ongoing actions: "that do make" (that make) it worthwhile, present simple for habits or general truths.

• So you might ask, why why is this stuff so prevalent?

  ➔ Modal Verb of Possibility (Might)

  ➔ Suggests a polite or speculative question: "might ask" (might ask) why it's prevalent.

• We need a postal service that's financially stable, that charges for the value that it delivers.

  ➔ Indirect Speech

  ➔ Reports needs or statements without quotes: "that charges" (that it charges) for the value.

• The mail has a rich history. It is a legacy that has touched all of us.

  ➔ Present Perfect in Relative Clauses

  ➔ Links past experiences to the present in defining the noun: "that has touched" (that has touched) all of us, connecting heritage and effect.