My friend Ray Schultz is the Editorial Director of DIRECT Magazine, of Penton Media and the ‘go to’ source for the latest news and trends in the Direct Marketing industry.
In my prior life, I was in the industry also as the publisher of Target Marketing, so Ray and I have known each other for years and besides being one of the brightest people around, he also has the greatest sense of humor!
Today I received my copy of DIRECT and his editorial was about the Christmas card I sent him twelve years ago. Why is this so ‘interesting’ to write about??? The story is one we joke about every time we see each other at an industry get together.
The card was postmarked December 1996 and it arrived to Ray in July 1998–19 months after it was sent!!
As Ray talks about in his editorial, this is not the most dramatic of its type. Checks have arrived after 40 years and so have some direct mail pieces!. A World War One-era letter was delivered to a family after sitting in a post office for nine decades.
Still for those who know me and Ray certainly does–I’m a true believer of the U.S. post office and continue to send my handwritten notes and holiday cards and am happy to know that they do arrive to the recipient–even if in this case and to of all people in the world,Ray—-19 months later!!!
Ray and I continue to have a great laugh over this!
Here he is 
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That is remarkable!