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Why this page?
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First I must admit I like the US Post Office. I like getting letters. I like putting letters in the mail knowing that they just about always get there. I like the people who deliver the mail. Most of the people who work in post offices are polite and friendly. I also think that the Post Office is one of the clearest examples of an effective government agency - requires no taxes and delivers for 32 cents what Federal Express charges several dollars for within many cities.
Second, I am disgusted with the term, "snail mail" which has developed on the Internet for postal mail. Even reputable organizations and people who should know better use this term. The term is degrading and condescending (as your mail carrier what he/she thinks). My goal is to stamp out this term so that only the most immature and juvenile of those online will continue to use it.
Stamp out the term "snailmail"
While email is great, it will never replace the feeling of receiving a hand written card in the mail.
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A little about Post Office history ...
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The USPS's own History of the United States Postal Service - 1775-1993 is a good place to start.
It begins with the Continental Congress naming Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General in 1775.
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"By 1770, there were 28 post offices in the colonies, 1,900 miles of post roads and
75 men employed as post riders."
--National Postal Museum - at the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.
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On July 1, 1971, the Post Office Department
was transformed into the United States Postal
Service as an independent establishment of
the executive branch of the Government of
the United States.
The only blotch that I know of in the distinguished
history of the Post Office has been the attempt
to ban the mailing of books and information
about abortion and birth control and material
considered to be "offensive". (Hannegan
v. Esquire, 1946) "In 1954, the Providence,
RI, post office attempted to block delivery
of Lenin's State and Revolution to Brown
University, citing it as "subversive"."
[BANNED BOOKS ON-LINE]
Stamps and Postal History - for another look at Postal History.
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