USPS Trivia
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44 free USPS trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
The Postal Service is older than the country, authorized by the Constitution, and still hand-delivers to more than 170 million addresses six days a week. These USPS trivia questions cover Benjamin Franklin's appointment, the first stamps of 1847, Rural Free Delivery, the girl who was mailed to her grandparents, the 1970 strike that created the modern agency, ZIP Codes and Mr. ZIP, and the long-life trucks with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Every answer is sourced, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 44 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who was appointed the first postmaster general by the Continental Congress?
Benjamin Franklin
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.
Q 02In which city did the Second Continental Congress found the post office in 1775?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia was where William Goddard had urged Congress to take over his 'Constitutional Post', a mail network set up outside royal control.
Q 03Which item did the 1792 Postal Service Act let travel through the US mail at tiny rates?
Newspapers
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.
Q 04What power does the Constitution's Postal Clause grant Congress?
To establish post offices and post roads
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.
Q 05What did the law that created the modern US Postal Service phase out?
Its taxpayer subsidy
Its taxpayer subsidy was phased out: the USPS took its last operating subsidy in 1982 and now pays its way mainly through postage.
Q 06Which president signed the Postal Reorganization Act that created the modern US Postal Service?
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon signed it months after he declared a national emergency and sent troops to move the mail during an illegal wildcat postal strike.
Q 07The 1970 postal strike began with workers in which city?
New York
New York letter carriers walked out first, even though striking was illegal for postal workers, and the walkout soon spread across the country.
Q 08Which president first invited the postmaster general to sit in his Cabinet, in 1829?
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson brought William T. Barry into the Cabinet because the department's thousands of jobs and contracts made it a patronage powerhouse.
Q 09Which famous mail service shut down two days after the transcontinental telegraph line was completed in 1861?
The Pony Express
The Pony Express lasted only 18 months and never made money, despite charging as much as $5 for a half-ounce letter.
Q 10The Post Office's first public telegraph line ran from Washington to which city?
Baltimore
Baltimore received Samuel Morse's 1844 message 'What hath God wrought', a Bible verse chosen for him by the patent commissioner's daughter.
Q 11What did the V in the wartime "V-Mail" service stand for?
Victory
Victory Mail letters were censored, shrunk onto microfilm and printed out near their destination, freeing ship and plane space for war cargo.
Q 12Which Founding Father appeared on the 10-cent value of the first US postage stamps in 1847?
George Washington
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.
Q 13What did free city mail delivery, begun in 1863, first require Americans to put on their letters?
A street address
A street address: before 1863 most people picked up their mail at the post office, so letters had never required one.
Q 21Why are most USPS delivery vehicles right-hand drive?
For easy reach to roadside mailboxes
Postal-owned vehicles also carry no license plates, just a seven-digit fleet number front and back.
Q 22What does LLV stand for in the name of the classic Grumman mail truck?
Long-life vehicle
Long-life vehicle proved all too apt: many of the trucks stayed on routes for around 30 years, well past their planned life.
Q 23Which company won the 2021 contract to build the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle?
Oshkosh Defense
Q 14In 1959, the Post Office had a Navy submarine launch 3,000 letters toward Florida aboard what?
A guided missile
A guided missile: the postmaster general predicted missiles would deliver mail before man reached the moon, but the test was never repeated.
Q 15For a new bank in Vernal, Utah, which building material did a businessman ship by parcel post in 50-pound packages?
Bricks
Bricks for the Bank of Vernal went by mail because parcel post cost far less than hauling them in by wagon freight.
Q 16What kind of animal was Owney, the Railway Mail Service mascot who rode mail cars around the world?
A dog
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.
Q 17The first US semipostal stamp, sold above postage to fund a cause, raised money for what?
Breast cancer research
Breast cancer research was the cause of the 1998 stamp, and instead of retiring it, Congress kept extending its sale.
Q 18What does the acronym ZIP stand for?
Zone Improvement Plan
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.
Q 19Mules still carry the US mail to Supai, a village far below the rim of which canyon?
The Grand 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.
Q 20What is printed upside down on the famous 1918 US 'Inverted Jenny' stamp?
An airplane
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.
Oshkosh Defense's win was challenged in court by losing bidder Workhorse, which abruptly dropped its lawsuit later in 2021.
Q 24The 'Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night' line comes from which ancient Greek historian?
Herodotus
Herodotus wrote it about Persia's mounted couriers, and despite popular belief, the US Postal Service has never had an official motto.
Q 25Which Herman Melville character is rumored to have once worked in the Dead Letter Office?
Bartleby
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.
Q 26Which body must approve a USPS First-Class Mail price rise above the rate of inflation?
The Postal Regulatory Commission
The Postal Regulatory Commission did approve an above-inflation stamp surcharge, but only as a temporary measure.
Q 27Which department-store owner championed Rural Free Delivery while serving as postmaster general?
John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker pushed for free rural delivery, but the first routes opened only in 1896, three years after he left office.
Q 28Who selects the postmaster general?
The Board of Governors
The Board of Governors chooses the postmaster general, yet until July 1971 the job was a seat in the president's Cabinet.
Q 29Who was appointed postmaster general in May 2020?
Louis DeJoy
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.
Q 30From 1911 until 1967, which banking service did many US post offices offer?
Savings accounts
Savings accounts: once bank deposits won government guarantees and savings bonds paid more, depositors drifted away and the system shut down.