[thereisnospork]

Imagine if the progenitors of email thought to require e-stamps, say a thousand emails for a buck. There's a parallel universe where 'Email co.' is a major tech player comparable to Google. Not sure it's a better universe, but bears consideration.

[StreetChief]

This effectively does exist https://www.jpay.com/PEmessages.aspx

[ChrisMarshallNY]

In the late 1980s, I worked for a company that wanted to do exactly that.

It was an X.400-based nightmare, and never took off.

[unholythree]

I remember a joke (or conspiracy theory) from the 90’s that the US Postal Service wanted to charge people per email.

[lacrimacida]

Maybe not USPS but it would be okay to pay for it somehow to make it harder for scammers, spammers and other harbingers of ruin.