Throngs of people wait on long lines to send paper e-mails.Photo: Getty Images

Back in olden times, buildings known as "post offices" were used to gather and sort paper communications — kind of like slower, dirtier, more cumbersome, more expensive, poorly spelled e-mails — before eventually delivering them around the world at great physical expense and a high risk of dog attacks. Now, owing to a $7 billion budget deficit brought on by the system's total lack of convenience, the United States Postal Service is considering closing up to 700 of these bygone relics, including 53 in New York City. [NY1]