United States Postal Service

The official postal service of the United States, it was originally a cabinet department, but was later converted to a government-owned corporation.

Timeline

• 1639 - Richard Fairbanks' tavern in Boston named repository for overseas mail

• 1775 - Benjamin Franklin, first Postmaster General under Continental Congress

• 1789 - Samuel Osgood[?], first Postmaster General under Constitution

• 1792 - On February 20 the Postal Service Act[?] establishes the United States Post Office Department.

• 1823 - Navigable waters designated post roads by Congress

• 1825 - Dead letter office

• 1829 - Postmaster General joins Cabinet

• 1830 - Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations established, later Office of the Chief Postal Inspector

• 1838 - Railroads[?] designated post routes by Congress

• 1845 - Star routes

• 1847 - Postage stamps

• 1852 - Stamped envelopes[?]

• 1855 - Registered Mail[?]

• 1855 - Compulsory prepayment of postage

• 1858 - Street letter boxes

• 1860 - Pony Express

• 1862 - Railway mail service, experimental

• 1863 - Free city delivery

• 1863 - Uniform postage rates, regardless of distance

• 1863 - Domestic mail divided into three classes

• 1864 - Post offices categorized by classes

• 1864 - Railroad post offices

• 1864 - Domestic money orders

• 1869 - Foreign or international money orders

• 1872 - Post Office Department established as an executive department by Congress

• 1872 - Congress enacts Mail Fraud Statute

• 1873 - Penny postal card

• 1874 - General Postal Union (later Universal Postal Union)

• 1879 - Domestic mail divided into four classes

• 1880 - Congress establishes title of Chief Post Office Inspector

• 1885 - Special Delivery[?]

• 1887 - International parcel post

• 1893 - First commemorative stamps

• 1896 - Rural free delivery[?], experimental

• 1898 - Private postcards authorized

• 1902 - Rural free delivery, permanent

• 1911 - Postal savings system

• 1911 - Carriage of mail by airplane sanctioned between Garden City and Mineola, NY; Earle H. Ovington, first U. S. mail pilot

• 1912 - Village delivery

• 1913 - Parcel post

• 1913 - Insurance

• 1913 - Collect-on-delivery

• 1914 - Government-owned and -operated vehicle service

• 1916 - Postal Inspectors solve last known stagecoach robbery

• 1918 - Airmail[?]

• 1920 - Metered postage

• 1920 - First transcontinental airmail

• 1924 - Regular transcontinental airmail service

• 1925 - Special handling

• 1927 - International airmail

• 1935 - Trans-Pacific airmail

• 1939 - Trans-Atlantic airmail

• 1939 - Autogiro service, experimental

• 1941 - Highway post offices

• 1942 - V-mail

• 1943 - Postal zoning system in 124 major post offices

• 1948 - Parcel post international air service

• 1948 - Parcel post domestic air service

• 1950 - Residential deliveries cut from two to one a day

• 1953 - Piggy-back mail service by trailers or railroad flatcars

• 1953 - Airlift

• 1955 - Certified mail

• 1957 - Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee

• 1959 - Missile mail dispatched from submarine to mainland Florida

• 1960 - Facsimile mail

• 1963 - ZIP Code and sectional center plan

• 1964 - Self-service post offices

• 1964 - Simplified postmark

• 1965 - Optical scanner (ZIP Code reader tested)

• 1966 - Postal savings system terminated

• 1967 - Mandatory presorting by ZIP Code for second - and third-class mailers

• 1968 - Priority Mail[?], a subclass of First-Class Mail

• 1969 - Patronage no longer a factor in postmaster and rural carrier appointments

• 1969 - First die proof of a postage stamp canceled on moon by Apollo 11 mission

• 1970 - MAILGRAM

• 1970 - Postal Reorganization Act

• 1970 - Express Mail[?], experimental

• 1971 - United States Postal Service began operation; Postmaster General no longer in Cabinet

• 1971 - Labor contract achieved through collective bargaining for the first time in history of federal government

• 1971 - Star routes changed to highway contract routes

• 1971 - National service standards established: overnight delivery of 95% of airmail within 600]] miles and 95% of First-Class Mail within local areas

• 1972 - Stamps by mail

• 1972 - Passport applications accepted in post offices

• 1973 - National service standards expanded to include second-day delivery of parcel post traveling up to 150]] miles, with one-day delivery time added for each additional 400]] miles

• 1974 - Highway post offices terminated

• 1974 - First satellite transmission of MAILGRAMs

• 1976 - Post office class categories eliminated

• 1976 - Discount for presorted First-Class Mail

• 1977 - Airmail abolished as a separate rate category

• 1977 - Express Mail, permanent new class of service

• 1977 - Final run of railroad post office on June 30

• 1978 - Discount for presorted second-class mail

• 1978 - Postage stamps and other philatelic items copyrighted

• 1979 - Discount for presorted bulk third-class mail

• 1979 - Postal Career Executive Service (PCES)

• 1980 - New standards require envelopes and postcards to be at least 3 1/2" high and 5" long to be mailable

• 1980 - INTELPOST (high-speed international electronic message service)

• 1981 - Controlled circulation classification discontinued

• 1981 - Discount for First-Class Mail presorted to carrier routes

• 1982 - Automation begins with installation of optical character readers

• 1982 - E-COM (Electronic Computer-Originated Mail, electronic message service with hard copy delivery)

• 1983 - ZIP + 4

• 1983 - Ended public service subsidy from federal government

• 1984 - Integrated retail terminals automate postal windows

• 1985 - Jackie Strange, first female Deputy Postmaster General

• 1985 - E-COM terminated

• 1986 - International Priority Airmail

• 1986 - Postal Service realigned; field divisions created

• 1987 - Small parcel and bundle sorters

• 1987 - Stamps by phone

• 1987 - Multiline optical character readers ordered

• 1988 - Inspector General's Act extends duties of Chief Postal Inspector

• 1989 - Universal Postal Union Congress in Washington, DC

• 1990 - Wide area barcode readers

• 1990 - Easy Stamp, allowing purchase of stamps through computers

• 1990 - International business reply service

• 1991 - Independent measurement of First-Class Mail service

• 1992 - Remote barcoding system

• 1992 - Reorganization: regions, divisions and management sectional centers replaced by area and district offices for customer service and mail processing

• 1992 - Stamps sold through automatic teller machines

Source: http://www.usps.gov/history

For a number of years, the US Postal Service is head sponsor of a professional cycling team, bearing its name. The team features Lance Armstrong, winner of the Tour de France from 1999 to 2002.

http://ircalc.usps.gov/weight.asp?Contents=1 USPS International Calculator, for determining rates world-wide.