A Polish IT worker has calculated the exact speed of snail mail after receiving on 3 January a letter which was sent priority mail on 20 December, Reuters reports.

Michal Szybalski whipped out his calculator and determined that the missive had spent 294 hours in transit, covering the 11.1km between sender and recipient.

The letter had therefore travelled at a mean velocity of 0.03775km/h, which is slower than a Polish garden snail which can clock 0.048km/h, according to Szybalski.

We can't help feeling there's a hefty research grant out there waiting for some university team willing to calculate the average speed of mail worldwide in relation to various species of snail, and the possible repercussions on global warming. Watch this space. ®

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