Outside the regular norm of mass communication - (email, cell phone, computers and other digital media), the United States relies solely on transfer of standard communication by the US Postal Service.
Unfortunately, by the year 2017, the US Postal Service will be nearly, if not entirely obsolete. In 2011, USPS cut 28,000 jobs, closed 3,700 postal centers, and is nearly $3billion in debt.
In 1844, the mail almost was private, the American Letter Mail Company founded by Lysander Spooner tried giving Americans an alternative to the expensive US Postal Dept., but the federal government soon shut Spooner up & called him a traitor, eventually closing him down.
Now is the time to privatize the postal service, more independence & jobs, & allow state governments to think for themselves.