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 Military
Postal Service
 Postal
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 Mr.
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Northwest Airline Mail handlers pin.
 
 
PI Jr badge
Significant Years in U.S. Postal History
 | 1639 Richard Fairbanks' tavern in Boston named repository for overseas
mail
| 1775 Benjamin Franklin was appointed first Postmaster General under
Continental Congress
| 1777 Continental Congress authorized appointment of an inspector of dead
letters
| 1789 Samuel Osgood was appointed first Postmaster General under
Constitution
| 1823 Navigable waters designated post roads by Congress
| 1829 Postmaster General joined Cabinet
| 1830 Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations established, later
became Office of the Chief Postal Inspector
| 1838 Railroads designated post routes by Congress
| 1845 Act of Congress created star routes
| 1847 U.S. Postage stamps issued
| 1853 Stamped envelopes issued
| 1855 Registered Mail began - Prepayment of postage required
| 1858 Street letter boxes installed
| 1860 Pony Express started
| 1862 Railway Mail Service began experimentally
| 1863 Free city delivery instituted - Postage rates became uniform,
regardless of distance - Domestic mail divided into three classes
| 1864 Post offices categorized by class - Railway Mail Service inaugurated
- Postal money order system created
| 1869 International money orders offered
| 1872 Congress enacted Mail Fraud Statute
| 1873 U.S. Postal cards issued
| 1874 General Postal Union established (later Universal Postal Union)
| 1879 Domestic mail divided into four classes
| 1880 Congress established title of Chief Post Office Inspector
| 1885 Special delivery began
| 1887 International Parcel Post instituted
| 1893 First commemorative stamps issued
| 1896 Rural free delivery began experimentally
| 1898 Private postcards authorized
| 1902 Rural free delivery became permanent service
| 1911 Postal Savings System started - First carriage of mail by airplane
sanctioned by the Post Office Department
| 1912 Village delivery offered
| 1913 Parcel Post began - Insurance offered - Collect on delivery (COD)
offered
| 1914 Government-owned and-operated vehicle service instituted
| 1916 Postal inspectors solve last known stagecoach robbery
| 1918 Scheduled airmail service began - Non-profit second-class rates
effective
| 1920 Metered postage authorized
| 1924 Scheduled transcontinental airmail service began
| 1925 Special handling offered
| 1927 International airmail began
| 1935 Trans-Pacific airmail began
| 1939 Trans-Atlantic airmail began - Autogiro service started
experimentally
| 1941 Highway Post Offices started
| 1942 V-mail inaugurated
| 1943 Postal zoning system began in 124 large Post Offices
| 1948 Domestic and International Air Parcel Post inaugurated
| 1950 Residential deliveries reduced to once a day
| 1952 Non-profit third-class rates effective
| 1953 Piggy-back mail service by trailers or railroad flatcars started
| 1955 Certified mail introduced
| 1957 Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee created
| 1959 Missile mail dispatched from submarine to mainland Florida
| 1960 Facsimile mail offered
| 1963 ZIP Code and sectional center plan implemented
| 1964 Self-service Post Offices open Postmark simplified
| 1965 Optical scanner (ZIP Code reader) tested
| 1966 Postal Savings System terminated
| 1967 Presorting by ZIP Code became mandatory for second- and third-class
mailers
| 1968 Priority Mail established as a subclass of First-Class Mail
| 1969 Patronage eliminated in Postmaster and rural carrier appointments
| 1970 Postal Reorganization Act signed - Express Mail began experimentally
- MAILGRAM instituted
| 1971 United States Postal Service began operations - Postmaster General no
longer in Cabinet - Labor contract negotiated through collective bargaining,
a first for the federal government - National service standards established
- Letter cancelled on moon by Apollo 15 mission
| 1972 Stamps by mail instituted - Passport applications accepted in Post
Offices
| 1973 National service standards expanded
| 1974 Highway Post Offices terminated - Satellite transmission of MAILGRAMs
began - Self-adhesive stamps introduced
| 1975 Post Office class categories eliminated
| 1976 Discount offered for presorted First-Class Mail
| 1977 Airmail abolished as a separate rate category - Express Mail became
permanent new class of service - Final run of Railroad Post Office on June
30
| 1978 Discount offered for presorted second-class mail - Postage stamps and
other philatelic items copyrighted
| 1979 Discount offered for presorted bulk third-class mail - Postal Career
Executive Service (PCES) established - New size standards implemented
| 1980 INTELPOST (high-speed international electronic message service) began
| 1981 Controlled circulation classification discontinued - Discount offered
for First-Class Mail presorted to carrier routes
| 1982 Automation began with installation of optical character readers -
E-COM (Electronic Computer-Originated Mail) offered - Last year Postal
Service received public service subsidy
| 1983 ZIP+4 code instituted
| 1984 Integrated retail terminals automated postal windows
| 1985 E-COM terminated
| 1986 Field divisions created
| 1987 Stamps by Phone available - Multiline optical character readers
ordered
| 1988 Small parcel and bundle sorters deployed - Delivery point sequence
processing began
| 1989 First Postal Store opened
| 1990 International business reply mail offered - Easy Stamp allowed
computer purchase of stamps - Independent measurement of First-Class Mail
service implemented - Wide area barcode sorters added
| 1992 Remote barcoding system introduced - Area and district offices
created for customer service and mail processing - Stamps sold through
automatic teller machines - Flats barcoded for automated sorting
| 1993 New corporate logo introduced - Postal Service sold First Day Covers
- National Postal Museum opened in Washington, D.C.
| 1996 Classification reform enacted - Standard Mail category created -
Inspector General appointed by Governors - Postal Service released automated
postage software via Internet - Self-adhesive coil stamps sold
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