The history of the postal system has included pigeons, scribes, balloons and more.

Where does your letter go when you mail it? It goes in the mailbox. Then what? The mail gets sorted. After that, the mail is put into piles for each mail carrier's area. The mail carriers take the mail for their area and deliver it. Then, people get the mail that was sent to them, and the mail they want to send can go to other people all around the world. In the United States and many other countries, there is no mail on Sunday. The real story about how mail is sent is actually a little bit more complicated.

The postal system is more complicated than you may think. But first, the basics. The postal system is where written documents (usually enclosed in envelopes or written on postcards) and small packages travel all over the world. Remember, you can't mail anything without a stamp!

The History of Mail

Postal services practically started the same time as writing. But before that, the "postal system" was more like messengers talking and telling people messages. No one had thought of writing down their messages, so they could keep them private from the messengers and everyone else. We got the term postal from the Latin word 'posta,' which means place of rest. This is because messengers would take breaks and rest during their journeys.

Real postal systems (with writing) started in Egypt in 2400 B.C. China began after Egypt and started their own postal system. Some historians believe that the written mail service truly started in Rome. They thought that it really started in Rome because the Romans used special carriages and horses just for delivering mail. It was more organized.

Mail has been carried in a lot of interesting other ways, too. Some people used carrier pigeons. People throughout history have also used dogsleds, balloons, rocket mules, and sometimes submarines.

Not many people knew how to write long ago. People who couldn't write their own letters would hire a scribe. A scribe is someone you could hire to write and read letters or other pieces of writing for you.

Modern Mail

Today our mail system is much more complicated than in the past. Not only do we send letters through the mail, but we also send packages and advertisements. Mail collection boxes, places in which people put letters for delivery, look different in different countries.  

The Universal Postal Union is in charge of the world-wide postal system. They do things like deciding national postage rates, and they say what size postage stamps can be. Mail systems use what most countries call postal codes to get mail where it needs to be faster. In the United States, it is called a zip code, and it is called postal codes in many other countries. A zip code is a number given to each city or town to identify it faster for mail carriers. Airmail has also made it easier to deliver mail quickly. The first airmail delivery was on September 9, 1991. The mail was flown from one London suburb to another.

Sending mail is great, but it isn't free. You have to pay to mail something from one place to another. Most of the time you do this by buying stamps and putting them on the thing to be mailed. The heavier your letter or package, the more it will cost to send it through the mail or the more stamps you will have to buy.

It is against the law for anyone to read someone else's mail. This law/right is usually protected by most country's constitutions. There is an exception to this law in the United States. The military is allowed to read soldiers' mail before it is sent to help protect the troops. This is called censorship.

Letters are the things most commonly sent through the mail. There are many different kinds of letters though. Letters can be informal writings from one person to another. The mail is also used to send bills such as phone or electricity bills. Bulk mail, also known as junk mail, also takes up a lot of space in mail today. The senders of junk mail often buy addresses from lists and then send everyone on that list an advertisement for their product.

You can also send postcards in the mail. When postcards were first invented, they were blank on both sides. Today, postcards usually have a picture on one side and a small space on the back for a message and the address. It costs less to send a postcard than to send a letter.

Today, people also send packages through the mail. There are so many pack-ages mailed, that companies such as Fed Ex and UPS, as well as the postal system, do business sending packages. Most postal systems have limits and rules about what you can send in a package through the mail. You aren't allowed to send some kinds of food that could spoil. You are also not allowed to mail dangerous things like chemicals. Because of worries about terrorism, the United States postal system x-rays packages to check for mail bombs.

Now you know all about the postal system. So the next time you mail a letter, stop and think. What happens after you drop that letter in the mailbox? 

Mail in New Zealand

In New Zealand, mail is delivered in a way that reflects New Zealanders' athletic and naturalistic personalities. Unlike many other countries, ‘posties,’ a kiwi term for mailman or woman, deliver their mail from a bike. Each letter goes through a careful sorting process. Use the flowchart below to follow the journey of a kiwi letter in “A day in the life of a New Zealand letter.” 

Citations

Online Resources

"Mail." Brainy Encyclopedia. November 2004.
<http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/m/ma/mail.html>.

Personal field trip to Auckland, New Zealand Post by Caitlin. 7 September 2004.

Images

Permission to use photographs of Posties at top of page from Carolyn Curley (Team Coach).  15 March 2005. Personal photographs.

Permission to use image of New Zealand Stamp from Sharlene King. <Sharlene.King@nzpost.co.nz> "RE: Permission to Use Stamp Image." 16 March 2005. Personal email.

Permission to use photographs of mailboxes in England and Japan is granted  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.

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