Anthrax phobia: Doesn't anyone love the mail anymore? (Editor's Corner).

With direct mailers scurrying about finding ways to circumvent anthrax paranoia and mail-phobic behavior, a colleague writes me "in the current climate (although it's too early to tell), e-mail viruses are tame compared to what's been attached to certain direct mail lately." Terrorism augments

A copywriter preparing a speech on how to pump up response prodded me for ideas.

"Envelopes are out," I told him

"Well, how is anyone going to get an order?" he asked.

"Maybe marketers will have to mail flats or postcards or magalogs and drive traffic to their websites to get the order. Actually that would be ideal - to convert a postal name into an electronic name. That would save marketers bundles of money moving forward."

My copywriter friend didn't exactly flip over that combination the way I did. But if you look at the numbers presented in our lead story it's clear that more people are taking to the Internet and doing just what e-commerce visionaries have dreamt of - more people shopping online. It's only a matter of time until mall-phobic people start to envy a neighbor's new running shoes or outfit that was purchased online. The listlessness of not being able to shop and the fear of crowds will drive more and more shoppers online.

Still trying to help my copywriter friend I later wrote him an email," Maybe I've got it now. You know how they wrap bottles so they are "tamper-free'? We need letters in special wraps - "If this wrapper has been tampered with, don't open this letter." Or better yet use clear plastic envelopes...

The search for solutions that work continues. Email is definitely one of them. It always was and continues to offer opportunities and cost savings that postal mail cannot match. It's unfortunate that its been these dismal days of terrorism that have brought email and the web into the forefront of the communications arena. But, at the same time, we are fortunate to have these alternatives.