Those Blasted Thin Envelopes

I was reminded the other day about those blasted thin envelopes that bring tidings of “thanks, but no thanks.”

When I was on the entry-level market, e-mail had not yet taken over as the medium franca of searches, so everyone I knew who was on the market came to dread that curt, one-paragraph letter that came in an emaciated envelope. I finally reached a stage where I stopped opening them. Interview offers came via phone calls; they did not come in envelopes. I seem to remember a fellow Ph.D. student who opened his with glee, taping each letter to the wall of his portion of the TA suite, until the better part of the space was papered in letterhead.

The times have changed, though. Nowadays, good news or bad can come in an e-mail message with a nondescript subject heading. It has to add to the anxiety for candidates. I sort of think the thin envelope might have been a better system.

Does anyone have any good “blasted thin envelope” stories?

In your experience, has e-mail overtaken envelopes on most searches? Is that a good thing?