What Do You Know About The Postal Service
For starters, did you know that the postmaster full general earns more than the vice president.
The U.S postal organization was officially established on July 26, 1775 and has been an integral office of American society ever since. Still, the system has certainly experienced many changes since the colonial days, with the official U.s.a. Mail (USPS) existence created in 1971. This stately fixture in the country is currently facing serious debt issues and is even in danger of being completely disbanded, not to mention the current debacle over how the reductions in USPS machinery will affect postal service-in voting for this Nov's election. With all the news surrounding the USPS, it's time to brush up on these facts about the history of the U.S. mail office.
1. The first post office was in a bar.
The very offset post office in colonial America was established in 1639 in the Boston home—which was also a tavern that sold "stronge water"—of a human named Richard Fairbanks.
2. American newspapers largely owe their existence to the mail service office.
Every bit part of the Postal service Office Act of 1792, newspapers—which were seen by the Founding Fathers every bit essential for maintaining an educated citizenry past spreading data—were permitted to exist mailed at extremely low rates. The outcome: By the start of the 19th century, newspapers made upwards the bulk of the U.S. mail. In 1840, 91 percent of white American adults could read, and this impressive literacy rate was attributed in role to the widespread availability of newspapers. Here are 23 other things your postal carrier isn't telling you.
three. The same Mail Office Deed imposed the harshest of penalties—decease!—on post thieves.
Because the U.S. mail was the simply official way to send money, this astringent punishment was less a reflection of the government'due south cruelty and more an indication of the importance of safe postal delivery. Congress soon reconsidered, and in 1799, stealing mail for showtime-time offenders was punishable past a public whipping and a prison judgement of upward to 10 years. Still, 2nd offenders were still subject to death, which was unchanged until 1872.
4. The Postmaster General was once a semi-celebrity.
The job was viewed as so disquisitional to a young United States that John McLean, Postmaster General from 1823 to 1829, reported directly to President James Monroe and and then to President John Quincy Adams. His next position later Postmaster General? U.Southward. Supreme Court Justice. In later on years, he was viewed equally a serious presidential candidate. Here are 12 unusual things postal carriers encounter every day.
5. For 141 years, getting a job at the U.S. postal system depended on one thing: connections.
Beginning with Thomas Jefferson's presidency (1801-1809), it became a tradition—albeit an unethical 1—for the winning candidate to burn down a significant swath of federal employees and replace them with party loyalists. And then, when Andrew Jackson was elected to the Oval Part in 1828, he went further and tied this political perk to the postal service, which at the time accounted for 75 percent of all civilian federal employees. He made it customary for the new president to fire many of the postal workers and hand out the positions to supporters. Astonishingly, this exercise continued all the way until 1969 when it was abolished by President Richard Nixon. This, at least, was one form of corruption that he could non take.
half-dozen. The Postmaster General used to be in the line of succession to the Presidency.
President Jackson besides decided that the Postmaster General should sit down in the Chiffonier, thereby putting the office on the same level as the Secretaries of State of war, Treasury, and Land—and putting the PG in contention to be the Commander in Chief. True, the Postmaster General was last in line, but that still put him or her a heartbeat, or dozen, abroad. The Postmaster General was finally removed from the Cabinet and from succession in 1971. These are ten of the craziest things people accept e'er shipped.
seven. Until the mid-19th century, recipients—non senders—usually had to pay for postage on the letters they received.
As a result, people tended to refuse and so many letters in order to escape paying for them, which caused the mail office to spend an inordinate amount of time returning post to senders. Postage stamp stamps—which were prepaid—were introduced in America in 1847 and eliminated this problem.
8. The U.S. mail was the original enabler of trolls.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, insulting "vinegar" or "poison" valentines were a popular trend in America (and England, btw). These cards featured a male or female caricature of pop stereotypes like a miser or a spinster, and the drawing was accompanied by mean-spirited poesy. Here's one sample: "Hey, Lover Boy, the identify for you lot/Is home upon the shelf/'Cause the only one who'd kiss you/Is a jackass like yourself!" Here are 11 shocking things your mail service carrier knows nearly you.
nine. While the Pony Limited did deliver post, it was never office of the U.S. postal service.
Contrary to popular belief, the rugged Pony Limited was a trailblazing mail and private service that took on the hard task of bringing mail through the Wild West before the U.S. post got there. The Express was in business for a year and a half, from April 3, 1860, to October 24, 1861. Scrappy riders—"orphans preferred," a help-wanted ad stated—ferried messages from St. Joseph, Missouri, to San Francisco, galloping through the Great Plains, the Rockies, and the Loftier Sierras.
ten. Everyone had to become to the post office to go mail—until the Ceremonious War helped change i man'southward mind.
In 1863, Gratis City Delivery—i.due east., complimentary commitment of mail at your home—was outset launched in Cleveland. Joseph Briggs, a postal clerk in that Ohio city, is said to have come up with the idea over the previous winter when he saw and so many women customers who were forced to wait in long lines at the mail service function, freezing and fretting, since the but way to get news of their loved ones fighting in the war was via the postal service. His Free City Commitment was such a success that it quickly spread to other cities before becoming a national norm. What'south more than, Civil War veterans got dibs on applying for the newly-created postal service carrier jobs. One other postal innovation prompted by the Civil War: money orders, so that Spousal relationship soldiers could send their money dwelling safely.
11. Similar virtually occupations, postal clerks in 19th-century U.S. tended to be male person—except at the Dead Letter Office.
Starting in 1825, all mail that was unlabeled, mislabeled, or insufficiently labeled in America was sent to a central Dead Letter Part in Washington, D.C. This was the only place in America where people who weren't a letter of the alphabet'south intended recipients were allowed to open up upwards someone else's mail. The postal employees hired for this job needed to be honest—to prevent pilfering of all the mail they had access to—and because women were seen dorsum then as being more than honest than men, the staff overwhelmingly consisted of women. Clergy were also employed to work at that place. For years, the DLO was a pop tourist destination. Today, it is not, it goes past the much less dramatic name "Mail Recovery Eye," and it is located in Atlanta.
12. Post carriers should have been called post waiters.
Even though mail became delivered to people'south homes, mail carriers were allowed to manus it just to the recipient. This meant workers waited and waited or circled back over and over again until their target, er, customer, came home. As of March i, 1923, all U.S. homes had to have a mail box or slot, and just like that, postal employees no longer had to worry most patrons—merely their dogs. Here are some surprising secrets your postal service carrier knows about you.
thirteen. Your mailman used to be able to bring yous greens, eggs, and ham.
From 1914 to 1920, the Farm-to-Table program was a novel initiative that allowed farmers to arrange prices with people in urban areas and then mail them their choice of ham, bacon, fresh meats, poultry, eggs, butter, cheese, basics, maple syrup, honey, jellies, preserves, fruits, and vegetables. This was seen as a way to give farmers more than customers and city dwellers greater and cheaper access to fresh appurtenances, and, later on World State of war I started, it was touted equally a way to assist meet President Woodrow Wilson's goal of food conservation in America. The two almost pop Farm-to-Tabular array products? Butter and lard.
14. When the Hope Diamond was donated to the Smithsonian Establishment, information technology went via U.S. mail.
In 1958, New York City jeweler Harry Winston donated the 45.52 carat Hope Diamond—today, valued at $350 1000000—to the Smithsonian. He then trusted in the U.S. Postal Service, which he regularly used to send jewels, that he turned to it to transport ane of the world'due south nearly valuable gems. The price of registered first-class postage was $2.44 (around $15.eighty today); plus, Winston paid an additional $142.05 (roughly $917 today) to insure it for $1 meg. It arrived safely at his destination. The Smithsonian still possesses the original packaging with the postmarks, and although it is not on display, the Promise Diamond is. Hither's how the U.South. authorities really spends your revenue enhancement dollars.
15. The U.S. Postal Service has no official motto.
Many people believe that the U.S. mail service'southward motto is this phrase: "Neither snow nor pelting nor oestrus nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Yes, information technology's true that those are the words engraved on the front of New York City's purple 1912 James A. Farley Post Office, merely they were taken from a fifth-century, BC, book by the Persian historian Herodotus. They refer non to America'due south stalwart men and women in blue just to messengers in the ancient Persian Empire (who wore … regal? pink?). This quote was selected by an employee at McKim, Mead, and White, the architectural firm that built the post function, and gear up in stone in the post office—and in people's minds. How'due south this for a bizarre mail service office fact—people used to be able to send babies through the United states of america Postal Service!
sixteen. After the U.S. president and vice president, the postmaster full general is the next highest-paid federal regime employee.
The U.Southward. president earns a base salary of $400,000 a year; the postmaster general gets a base bacon of $276,840. As a result, she—the electric current officeholder is Megan Brennan, the first adult female in history to hold the job—out-earns the U.S. vice president, who makes $243,500.
You tin find these facts and many, many more in the fascinating new book How the Post Office Created America, by Winifred Gallagher (Penguin Press, 2016). Next, cheque out 50 of the dumbest laws in every state.
What Do You Know About The Postal Service,
Source: https://www.rd.com/article/us-postal-service-facts/
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