James O'Brien

A few days ago at work, a colleague shared an interesting story about her friend who found herself in a challenging situation—she had to appear in court to defend a case of driving an unlicensed vehicle without a driver’s license.

While I may not have all the exact details of why she ended up in court, the story goes something like this: the friend had accumulated several unpaid speeding fines, captured by speed cameras, which were all linked to her car’s registration. Consequently, when she was pulled over by the police and issued another speeding fine, it resulted in a double-whammy situation—driving without a license in an unregistered vehicle.

The story of how she ended up in this position was surprisingly simple, as my colleague explained, “she never checks her mail.” Her letter-box was consistently filled with correspondence about speeding fines, late speeding fines, warnings, and more.

As I listened to the story, two thoughts crossed my mind about what her friend should do. Firstly, she needs to slow down; accumulating so many speeding fines can’t be a good sign of a safe driver. Secondly, she should make it a habit to check her mailbox more regularly.

This made me reflect on my own behavior concerning my physical mailbox. With most of my correspondence being handled online and bills paid through direct debit, I hardly ever check my mailbox, maybe once a week at best. Usually, there’s not much inside—just the occasional bank statement, some junk mail, and a lot of correspondence from the City of Sydney (yes, quite a lot). Occasionally, there’s something personal or important, like the wedding invitation I was expecting tonight.

Unlike my situation, an older friend of mine shared over dinner that he checks his letterbox daily but his email only once a week. It’s interesting how different people have varied preferences when it comes to communication methods. For me, I’m constantly checking my email at work and even regularly at home due to notifications on my phone.

However, the story of my colleague’s friend served as a gentle reminder that I should still check my physical mailbox from time to time. Unfortunately, the wedding invitation I anticipated wasn’t there tonight, which was a bit disappointing. While my friend mentioned the invitation was “in the mail,” part of me couldn’t help but think, “just email me the pdf.” Nevertheless, there are certain things that hold a special charm when received in physical form rather than digital.

Overall, this tale made me realize the importance of striking a balance between digital and physical communications. I