I had to chuckle when you said that U.S. mail could track a package every step of the way. You tried USPS tracking lately?

What guarantees do you have that a person understands a verbal communication? It is just as easy to miscommunicate verbally as it is in writing. Writing has the advantage of sticking around, so I can go review an email if I need to see what was said again.

Also, I can wait to read an email when I am able to focus completely on its message. A phone call could happen while I am mentally distracted and it is harder to come back to a phone call later.

As for your domain switch argument: I would say that is human error, not the technologies fault. The admins didn’t make people aware of the change, nor did they set up a system to forward emails. To switch it up a bit, what would happen if someone moved their desk, but didn’t forward their phone or send out their new number? Would you blame the telephone?

cetroyer

The unreliability I speak of us relative to the reliability of talking to someone in person, or calling somebody. Even the U.S. mail seems more reliable because it has a common network where a parcel can be tracked every step of the way.

If you call somebody, you’ll know whether the call got through if someone picks up on the other end. If you talk to someone in person, you’ll know that the message was received if the person acknowledges understanding.

With e-mail, there is no guarantee that the message that was just sent went to the right person, or even if the e-mail was received outright.

As far as e-mails being lost in oblivion… My company decided to switch e-mail domains on us. Instead of “blah@domain.companyname.com”, it was now “blah@domain2.companyname.com.” People who sent e-mails to the old domain were not given any reason to suspect that e-mails were not getting to the required destination. And the people on the new domain weren’t getting any e-mails and had ticked off clients to contend with.

True, spam causes many problemw with email, especially for those auto-generated emails like Flickr has.

I try to gently point out hoax emails when people forward them to me. For some reason, they stop sending them to me. Odd.

I don’t think it always takes a talented writer to convey emotion in email. I think it depends more on knowing the person who wrote the email. I really enjoy reading my dad’s family emails and I can appreciate the humor that comes through.

I do prefer to email someone rather than to talk to them, at least for work. Email is a nice “fire and forget” method. It also keeps me from having to make spur of the moment statements. I can sit back and formulate a reply to an email, but a phone call does not always afford that luxury. Granted, part of my feelings toward phones might come from my 11 months as a telemarketer.

cetroyer

The Spam/Junk folders are here to help us but so many times legitimate emails end up in those folders. Email is indeed easy like cetroyer mentions above, and it is also makes some people feel more comfortable when it comes to saying things in person or over the phone instead.

I agree wholeheartedly that email is unreliable. However, I have a problem: I'm a horrible orator. I never have spoken as well as I write. And so I want very badly for email to be reliable. I would like to do most of my business communication through email if possible. The only problem is that it's got that little reliability issue. Not only that, sometimes I get busy and don't have time even to check the three email accounts I currently maintain. I guess that leaves me with no alternative but to blunder through a conversation from time to time, but I will avoid it if possible. Take care,

Nathan