When have your kids last mailed a letter? I read recently in The Wall Street Journal that Australia's national postal service, Australia Post, cannot determine how many young people sent mail but that overall mail volume between 2006-2016 had dropped by one billion letters.
The downward trend could have far reaching implications. There is an immediate implication. Australia initiated a national mail-in vote to approve same sex marriages this year.
59% of Australians in a recent poll approve the initiative. Among voters 25 and younger, 80% approve the measure. But will the younger crowd be persuaded to walk their paper ballots to the mailbox? Proponents for and against the marriage issue are struggling to get their voting blocks to the mailboxes because so few of this generation has ever mailed a letter.
In discussing the ballot initiative, one young professional in Australia admitted that he mostly texted when communicating with the his parents. The rest of his electronic communications were done via instant message platforms. This resident had last mailed a letter in 2013.
We shall see how things work out Down Under. The results will be announced on November 15.
What parts of your business could be upended permanently by technology? What are you doing to monitor these technology game changers?