> It seems like there is nothing 'insanely efficient' about physically sending paper across the country when the recipient has indicated that no, you actually don't need to do that.
Forwarding is a negligible percentage of USPS's total mail volume. Like other commenters have mentioned, it's only designed for temporary use while you get settled at a new address.
USPS has machines that read the handwritten addresses on a label, and prints a barcode. The barcode has information that other machines use to bin mail by delivery address, in the order that the mail will be delivered. It's pretty amazing how the system works.
Forwarding is a negligible percentage of USPS's total mail volume. Like other commenters have mentioned, it's only designed for temporary use while you get settled at a new address.
USPS has machines that read the handwritten addresses on a label, and prints a barcode. The barcode has information that other machines use to bin mail by delivery address, in the order that the mail will be delivered. It's pretty amazing how the system works.