Pieces of Mail Handled | The End of Traffic and the Future of Transport

| David Levinson
For example, as shown in Figure 3.10, US mail volume increased for decades upon decades until the 1990s. And it started to level off in the 1990s (forming an S shape from 1926 to 1999) with the rise of email and the Internet, and then, since the early 2000s has fallen off a cliff (the beginning of a reverse S). Nobody today expects the number of letters delivered to rise in a decade's time. This same pattern could confront the conventional automobile as we know it today. From Levinson and Krizek (2015) The End of Traffic and the Future of Transport. http://davidlevinson.org/the-end-of-traffic-and-the-future-of-transport/ Figure 3.10 Source: US Postal Service (nd) Pieces of Mail Handled, Number of Post Offices, Income, and Expenses Since 1789.  https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/pieces-of-mail-since-1789.htm.
US mail volume increased for decades upon decades until the 1990s. And it started to level off in the 1990s (forming an S shape from 1926 to 1999) with the rise of email and the Internet, and then, since the early 2000s has fallen off a cliff (the beginning of a reverse S). Nobody today expects the number of letters delivered to rise in a decade’s time. This same pattern could confront the conventional automobile as we know it today.
From Levinson and Krizek (2015) The End of Traffic and the Future of Transport. 
Figure 3.10 Source: US Postal Service (nd) Pieces of Mail Handled, Number of Post Offices, Income, and Expenses Since 1789.