Will E-mail Eventually Be Something You Have To Pay For?

I've heard a few rumors about this that in 4-6 years sending a e-mail may no longer be a free luxury. How would that effect you and your business? What type of impact would it have if say for example it cost you .37 cents for every single e-mail you sent?

Now, I have no firm evidence that this would actually become a reality but it sure is something to to think about. Just recently I watched a segment on the news about how a lot of those blue postal boxes you used to see on street corners are dissapearing because of the decline in letters being mailed via snail mail. It would be easy to assume that a lot of this is due to the fact that we can simple send someone a e-mail instead. It's faster and cheaper.

But what if sending e-mails suddenly became something you had to pay for? Imagine if the ISP companies started to charge us for each e-mail we sent out based on the government stepping in and placing fees on sending e-mails. What type of overall impact would that have for us?

Well, my theory is e-mail would become a more valued commodity that is for sure. Business's newsletters that get sent out to thousands of people daily or weekly would become a high priced advertising avenue most certainly. What about companies that offer autoresponder services? That's a scary thought for those subscribers, especially those with mailing lists that use autoresponders to send out daily e-mails automatically. I suppose the autoresponder companies would simply offset the rising cost by raising membership rates.

I could also see a lot more cross promotion happening among companies that have similar target markets. Such practice would probably keep the e-mail cost to more of a minimum if each company promoted their partners in each e-mail they sent out to their lists.

Many of us probably take sending e-mail for granted. But if it ever did go to a paid tool, above what we already pay our ISP, just the thought of that could make us all stop and ponder this for a moment.

Your Friend and Fellow E-preneur,

Kelle Arvay