44 Fun Facts About USPS

Who was appointed the first postmaster general by the Continental Congress?

Benjamin Franklin had run the colonial mails for the Crown until he was fired in 1774; a year later Congress made him its postmaster general.

In which city did the Second Continental Congress found the post office in 1775?

Philadelphia was where William Goddard had urged Congress to take over his 'Constitutional Post', a mail network set up outside royal control.

Which item did the 1792 Postal Service Act let travel through the US mail at tiny rates?

Newspapers went at extremely low rates, some for free, while letters cost 6 to 25 cents, since an informed public was seen as vital to the new democracy.

What power does the Constitution's Postal Clause grant Congress?

To establish post offices and post roads was the grant; Thomas Jefferson later asked whether it let Congress build roads or only choose existing ones.

What did the law that created the modern US Postal Service phase out?

Its taxpayer subsidy was phased out: the USPS took its last operating subsidy in 1982 and now pays its way mainly through postage.

Which president signed the Postal Reorganization Act that created the modern US Postal Service?

Richard Nixon signed it months after he declared a national emergency and sent troops to move the mail during an illegal wildcat postal strike.

The 1970 postal strike began with workers in which city?

New York letter carriers walked out first, even though striking was illegal for postal workers, and the walkout soon spread across the country.

Which president first invited the postmaster general to sit in his Cabinet, in 1829?

Andrew Jackson brought William T. Barry into the Cabinet because the department's thousands of jobs and contracts made it a patronage powerhouse.

Which famous mail service shut down two days after the transcontinental telegraph line was completed in 1861?

The Pony Express lasted only 18 months and never made money, despite charging as much as $5 for a half-ounce letter.

The Post Office's first public telegraph line ran from Washington to which city?

Baltimore received Samuel Morse's 1844 message 'What hath God wrought', a Bible verse chosen for him by the patent commissioner's daughter.

What did the V in the wartime "V-Mail" service stand for?

Victory Mail letters were censored, shrunk onto microfilm and printed out near their destination, freeing ship and plane space for war cargo.

Which Founding Father appeared on the 10-cent value of the first US postage stamps in 1847?

George Washington's 10-cent stamp paid for letters going over 300 miles, and until 1855 a sender could still leave the postage for the recipient to pay.

What did free city mail delivery, begun in 1863, first require Americans to put on their letters?

A street address: before 1863 most people picked up their mail at the post office, so letters had never required one.

In 1959, the Post Office had a Navy submarine launch 3,000 letters toward Florida aboard what?

A guided missile: the postmaster general predicted missiles would deliver mail before man reached the moon, but the test was never repeated.

For a new bank in Vernal, Utah, which building material did a businessman ship by parcel post in 50-pound packages?

Bricks for the Bank of Vernal went by mail because parcel post cost far less than hauling them in by wagon freight.

What kind of animal was Owney, the Railway Mail Service mascot who rode mail cars around the world?

A dog: Owney was the Albany post office's dog, and his collar filled with so many rail tags that he was given a jacket to spread their weight.

The first US semipostal stamp, sold above postage to fund a cause, raised money for what?

Breast cancer research was the cause of the 1998 stamp, and instead of retiring it, Congress kept extending its sale.

What does the acronym ZIP stand for?

Zone Improvement Plan grew out of wartime zone numbers, brought in so new clerks could sort city mail after experienced ones left for the army.

Mules still carry the US mail to Supai, a village far below the rim of which canyon?

The Grand Canyon's village of Supai can be reached only on foot, by mule or by helicopter, so its mail still travels down by mule train.

What is printed upside down on the famous 1918 US 'Inverted Jenny' stamp?

An airplane: only one sheet of 100 slipped past inspectors, and collector William Robey bought it at the post office for its $24 face value.

Why are most USPS delivery vehicles right-hand drive?

Postal-owned vehicles also carry no license plates, just a seven-digit fleet number front and back.

What does LLV stand for in the name of the classic Grumman mail truck?

Long-life vehicle proved all too apt: many of the trucks stayed on routes for around 30 years, well past their planned life.

Which company won the 2021 contract to build the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle?

Oshkosh Defense's win was challenged in court by losing bidder Workhorse, which abruptly dropped its lawsuit later in 2021.

The 'Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night' line comes from which ancient Greek historian?

Herodotus wrote it about Persia's mounted couriers, and despite popular belief, the US Postal Service has never had an official motto.

Which Herman Melville character is rumored to have once worked in the Dead Letter Office?

Bartleby, the copyist who answers every request with 'I would prefer not to', is said to have sorted dead letters that were burned by the cart-load.

Which body must approve a USPS First-Class Mail price rise above the rate of inflation?

The Postal Regulatory Commission did approve an above-inflation stamp surcharge, but only as a temporary measure.

Which department-store owner championed Rural Free Delivery while serving as postmaster general?

John Wanamaker pushed for free rural delivery, but the first routes opened only in 1896, three years after he left office.

Who selects the postmaster general?

The Board of Governors chooses the postmaster general, yet until July 1971 the job was a seat in the president's Cabinet.

Who was appointed postmaster general in May 2020?

Louis DeJoy was the first postmaster general in more than 20 years to come from outside the USPS, and he moved fast to cut costs.

From 1911 until 1967, which banking service did many US post offices offer?

Savings accounts: once bank deposits won government guarantees and savings bonds paid more, depositors drifted away and the system shut down.

What delivery promise did the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 write into law?

At least six days a week: the law locked in Saturday delivery, which postal chiefs had tried to cut again and again to save money.

What did the Post Office do with its telegraph lines in 1847?

Handed them to a private company: the government got out of running the telegraph, and privately run lines soon crisscrossed the country.

In 2001, which rival did the USPS sign up to fly its express and overnight mail?

FedEx won the 2001 deal, and the rivals later worked together on the ground too, with FedEx passing parcels to the Postal Service for final delivery.

Which famous gem did jeweler Harry Winston send by plain registered mail in 1958?

The Hope Diamond was Winston's gift to the Smithsonian, meant to start a national gem collection, and it traveled in a box wrapped in brown paper.

What does the USPS program Operation Santa, begun in 1912, invite the public to do?

Answer letters to Santa: postal employees began replying in 1912, and the public was invited to join in during the 1940s.

Which federal law enforcement agency dates its beginning to August 7, 1775?

The Postal Inspection Service traces itself to William Goddard, the first postal surveyor, who inspected post offices and settled postmasters' accounts.

What did the Postal Service allow private couriers to carry in 1979, loosening its letter monopoly?

Extremely urgent letters were freed in 1979, while packages had never been part of the postal monopoly at all.

What does the USPS photograph under its Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program?

The outside of every mailpiece is imaged, and in 2013 the FBI used those images to trace ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama.

Which famous document did colonial postmaster Mary Katherine Goddard become the first to print with all its signers' names?

The Declaration of Independence: yet in 1789 a new postmaster general replaced her as postmaster, despite protests from local citizens.

Which future president was a village postmaster in the 1830s?

Abraham Lincoln would deliver letters to people in person rather than wait for them to come and collect their mail.

What is the name of the 10-year USPS reform plan launched in March 2021?

Delivering for America slowed some long-distance first-class mail by a day or two, moving it from planes to cheaper ground transport.

Which Mississippi novelist once ran the post office at the University of Mississippi?

William Faulkner quit the job with a famous letter refusing to be at the beck and call of anyone with two cents for a stamp.

Which three freely associated states are folded into the USPS ZIP Code system?

Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia still use US ZIP Codes, though in 2006 the USPS began treating Micronesia and Marshall Islands mail as international, then reversed in 2007.

What is the hobby of collecting and studying postage stamps called?

Philately was coined in 1864 by French collector Georges Herpin from Greek for 'loving tax-free', since a stamp showed the postage was already paid.