cfh@cca.UUCP (Christopher Herot) (09/27/83)
Before you rush out to connect to ECOM, be aware that it only barely qualifies as electronic mail. Once the message is delivered electronically to your local ECOM post office, it gets mailed from THAT OFFICE. Politics prevented the post office from doing the obvious thing and sending the mail electronically to the office nearest the recipient. Thus the Postal Service is prevented from competing with private companies which may offer the same service. Instead, this puts the Postal Service in competition with many small "letter shops" which presumably carry less clout in Congress.