        POSTAL HISTORY        

Communication with written messages
dates back to several centuries. Written
messages on Clay tablets were used by
the sumerians around 2000 BC in the
present day Iraq. The Egyptians used
the papyrus for manuscripts and
messages. Parchment was used for
writing messages in Asia Minor that is
now Turkey. By 105 AD the Chinese
invented the paper that eventually
became a popular medium for writing
books and letters.

By 1250 BC the Egyptians developed an
organized courier service linking all
parts of the empire. The Chou Dynasty
(1122-221 BC) in China developed a
similar system. The Persians (Persia
is the present day Iran) under the
rule of the famous Darius I improved
their royal courier service and their
routes traversed all the way to Egypt,
Asia Minor and India. These enormous
distances were covered using an
elaborate relay system with several
relay stations along these routes.
Similarly the Romans, Arabs and the
Chinese developed their own service
that nearly covered all the key
locations in their empires. These
facilities were mostly operated by
government for official messages and
rarely used by businessmen and the
common man had almost no access to
these services.

Modern and organized postal service of
recent times originated in the 15th
century and lasted from 1450 to 1867
covering the Holy Roman Empire. Some
countries including England had their
own postal system. The English postal
service charged postage based on the
distance. Also the recipient had to
pay the postage and it was not
uncommon for the recipients to reject
the mail for various reasons.  This
meant lost revenue for the post
office.

Sir Rowland Hill an educator who
studied the British postal system
suggested that the largest cost for
mail transport is not for the distance
it traveled but for the cost of
sorting and handling. The worlds first
postal stamps issued on May 1, 1840,
bearing the head of the queen of
England were an instant success. Soon
other countries of the world followed.
In 1847 the US issued its first
postage stamps. The adhesive postage
stamp for the pre-payment of  mail
charges revolutionized postal
communications.


BRIEF HISTORY OF US POSTAL SYSTEM:
The pilgrims who landed in the
American continent in 1620 attempted
to establish their postal system
during 1637 to 1639.

Edward Randolph was appointed the
first postmaster of English Colonies
in 1685. In 1735 Benjamin Franklin was
appointed the Postmaster at
Philadelphia and was also given the
responsibility to streamline the
entire Colonial postal system.

Benjamin Franklin was again appointed
as postmaster General, this time by
the Continental Congress. His
pioneering work and the
recommendations eventually influenced
the character of the US Postal
Service.

In the early days mail was carried by
post riders who faced many dangers
not only from the Indians but
also from the settlers making the mail
some what unreliable. This
necessitated the practice of payment
on mail delivery by the addressee
rather than by the sender.
Unfortunately on several occasions
the recipient's refused to accept the
mail resulting in a loss of revenue to
the postal authorities. It also caused
an accounting nightmare.

The introduction of the prepaid postal
stamp was a major landmark event in
the history of the Postal System. The
two first postal stamps for prepayment
were issued on July 1, 1847, bearing
the head of Franklin (5 cents) and
head of Washington (10 cents). Also
efforts were made through legislation
to impose penalties for interfering
with the mail delivery.

The delivery of mail to the western
part of the US took several weeks to
months and was very unreliable. In
April 1860 a pioneering firm called
Russell, Majors and Waddell started a
relay system of post riders to carry
mail and newspapers over 1900 miles
passing through deserts, across
mountains and Indian country from
St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento,
California. This mail service called
the "Pony Express" never received a
contract for US mail. The completion
of telegraph lines and
transcontinental railroad caused its
demise in latter part of 1861.

With the development of the
transcontinental railway and the
roadways the mail became more reliable
and predictable. Eventually the use of
Aircraft for first class mail reduced
the delivery time to a couple of days.

The US Post Office Department became a
semi-independent organization on July
1, 1971, and is now called the US
Postal Service (USPS).

