Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The History of Postal Delivery

Episode Date: August 31, 2022

Since humans began to adopt writing systems, they also created systems for passing along written messages.  For thousands of years, it would have been possible to get messages to distant parts of whatever empire or kingdom you happened to live in, provided you found the right courier and had enough money.  Today, the entire globe is integrated into a connected postal system, allowing physical messages to be sent between almost any two people. Learn more about mail and how our modern system has ancient roots on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Darcy Adams Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Search Past Episodes at fathom.fm Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EverythingEverywhere Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Everything Everywhere is an Airwave Media podcast." or "Everything Everywhere is part of the Airwave Media podcast network Please contact [e-mail] to advertise on Everything Everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever since humans began to adopt writing systems, they also created systems for passing along written messages. For thousands of years, it would have been possible to get messages to distant parts of whatever empire or kingdom you happen to live in, provided you found the right courier and had enough money. Today, the entire globe is integrated into a connected postal system, allowing physical messages to be sent between almost any two people. Learn more about postal delivery and how our modern system as ancient roots. On this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed.

It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. In the big scope of humanity, the development of writing was hard. The development of delivering messages was relatively easy. Once we had figured out how to draw symbols that had some sort of meaning, the next logical step of delivering those written messages was rather trivial. That is why courier systems for messages were something that developed independently

in many different places around the world. The first place that we know of that had an organized system for sending messages was ancient Egypt. This makes perfect sense, as Egypt is very old, and they had a material in papyrus that could easily be written on, and delivered long distances. At least as early as 2,400 BC, the pharaohs had developed a system for delivering royal decrees throughout the kingdom.

And it was pretty easy to do, as everyone was situated along a single river, and very few people were literate. The oldest piece of mail known to exist is a piece of papyrus dating back to the year 255 BC. The first real generalized postal system was developed in ancient Persia, possibly by Cyrus the Great,

around the year 550 BC. Within the Persian Empire, it was possible for any location to send and receive messages with any other location. Moreover, Cyrus struck deals with neighboring kingdoms to allow for the delivery of messages to and from Persia. The Persian system was a network that was known as Chaparana or courier houses. A rider would ride quickly from one courier house to the next, swap horses when he arrived so he could continue to the next one just as fast. And if this sounds suspiciously like the American Pony Exhares, Express system, it was basically the same thing, except that it came 2,500 years earlier. The Persian system probably evolved from a military intelligence network that was later repurposed

for sending messages. The Moria Empire in India, around 322 BC, had a similar system of couriers. They actually had specialized chariots which would deliver messages. And here, too, there was a great deal of overlap between the intelligence gathering and mail delivery system. It isn't known exactly when an organized system of couriers developed in China. It's possible that the Shah dynasty could have developed such a system, which it would make a Chinese postal system as old as Egypt. Or it could have occurred during the Shang Dynasty, which would make it a little bit older than Persia's.

But we do know that by the Han Dynasty around 220 BC, they had developed a system of career stations approximately every 10 miles. By the Ming Dynasty in the 15th century, there were almost 2,000 posthouses across China and even more spots to swap horses between them. The ancient postal system we have the most information on is, not surprisingly, Rome. Their system was known as the Cursus publicus, or the public way. It was actually based on the Persian system, where there would be posts along a road where couriers could either get a fresh horse or pass the message off to a new courier.

Augustus modified the system so that a single courier could deliver the message from start to finish. This was developed so that the recipient of the message, aka the emperor, could ask the messenger further questions, which was, wasn't possible if the message was constantly being handed off. The Cursus publicus also became the basis of the postal system in the Byzantine Empire, and it was one of the biggest losses when the Western Empire collapsed. What all these systems from the ancient world had in common was that they had an organized system of changing horses or messengers. Also, with very few exceptions, the messages would have only been for governmental or military use. An average person would have neither the ability to write, the expensive tools for writing,

nor did they have anyone to write too, as everyone they knew probably lived with them in their village. Systems similar to these were used for hundreds of years by the Holy Roman Empire, the Islamic Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, and many other smaller nations. All of these were a far cry from the postal systems that were familiar with today. The first step towards a modern postal system took place in 1653 in France. Jean-Jacques-Ronnaire de Villiers created a private postal system in the city of Paris. He created many of the elements of modern postal delivery that you might be familiar with. He set up boxes around Paris, where letters could be left and delivered.

Any letter would be delivered if you used one of his prepaid envelopes or attached a receipt to the letter showing that delivery had been paid for. He actually guaranteed same-day delivery within the city of Paris. Despite being a truly groundbreaking and innovative service, it quickly went out of business as people started putting mice inside of his boxes, and the public became hesitant to use them. Throughout the age of enlightenment, letter writing became more common amongst the elite, and here I'll reference my previous episode on the Republic of Letters.

However, the physical act of sending a letter was still very difficult. It could take weeks or months for a letter to arrive, and you might never even know if the letter actually made it. This messy state of affairs continued well into the 19th century. The country that developed the first truly modern postal system was Great Britain. In the early 19th century, everyone in Britain knew that the postal system made no sense. For starters, recipients had to pay for a delivery before they even knew what the letter was about. Second, delivery fees were assessed by a very complicated system based on distance

and the number of pages in a letter. It was not uncommon for someone to be hit for the equivalent of a full day's salary just to open a letter that was sent to you. For example, a three-page letter sent from London to Birmingham cost two shilling three-pence, which was a lot of money at that time. Finally, there were massive loopholes in the system. Members of Parliament had the ability to send mail free of charge. If you happen to know a member, they could mail something for you for free. There were 658 seats in Parliament. Yet throughout the 1830s, MPs managed to send 7 million pieces of mail per year. That's over 10,000 letters per MP annually. To get around the high costs of postage, people would begin to develop tricks to encode messages.

so the recipient wouldn't have to pay. For example, if you use someone's full name on the envelope, it might mean that all as well. But if you use their initials, it might mean that they needed help. Once you got the encoded message on the envelope, you would just refuse to pay for it. The person who cut through all of this mess

was an Englishman by the name of Roland Hill. Hill ushered in several major changes to the Royal Mail, which are staples of postal systems everywhere around the world today. For starters, he changed it so that the sender would pay for postage, not the recipient. Second, he removed all distance delivery charges throughout the entire United Kingdom. There would be one price regardless of where it was sent. And third, he got rid of charging for the number of pieces of paper being sent and instead

charged by weight. The new cost of sending a letter anywhere in the UK was one penny for one half of an ounce, or 142 grams. This was a radical step for the royal mail because it was a significant reduction in the price of sending a letter. But Hill's argument was that by making it more affordable for working class people, the volume of mail would increase offsetting the decrease in price. His reforms were implemented in 1840, and he was correct. In the very first year, the number of letters sent doubled, and within 10 years, it doubled again. One of the other things he introduced was a system to show payment by the sender. He created a small adhesive piece of paper which could be placed on the envelope to prove payment had been made.

It was the first postage stamp. The very first stamp was known as the Penny Black, and it was an image of Queen Victoria in profile. There were over 86 million penny black stamps which were printed, and they're actually not that hard to find today. You can find originals on eBay for well under $100. Roland Hill's postal reforms spread quickly around the world. Switzerland and Brazil adopted postage stamps just three years after they were

introduced in Britain. By 1860, over 90 countries were using posted stamps. In 1874, the Treaty of Bern was signed which established the Universal Postal Union. Prior to the UPU, every country had to establish bilateral treaties with every other country for the delivery of international mail. The treaty stipulated several things. First, there would be a flat rate to mail a letter anywhere in the world. Second, foreign and domestic mail would be given equal treatment, and finally each country would be allowed to keep the money it collected for international postage. The UPU became an agency under the United Nations in 1948. As new methods of transportation were developed, such as railroads and steamships,

one of the most important functions that they had was the faster delivery of mail. Airmail was the first real commercial use case for airplanes. As mail became more streamlined, it began to be used for purposes beyond just sending letters. In 1872, an American by the name of Aaron Montgomery, Ward printed a single sheet of paper with a list of items that could be purchased by mail. It was aimed at farmers who lived far away from cities with stores. In 1892, Elva Curtis Roebuck and Richard Warren Sears created the Sears Roebuck and company. By 1894, they were issuing a catalog that was 32 pages long, and the next

year, they issued one that was 532 pages long. You could literally order almost anything from them, including an entire house. As mail exploded in growth, systems had to keep up with volume. Formalized systems of addresses and house numbers were developed. Postal codes were adopted in most countries in the second half of the 20th century. In 1957, the Canadian Postal Service introduced an automated letter sorting machine that could sort 200,000 letters in an hour. The late 20th century was the peak point for global mail delivery.

Electronic Communications has replaced most regular mail, including letters, bills, and magazines. The one area that has increased dramatically is the delivery of parcels due to online shopping. Sending written messages was the original system of long-distance communication. It quite literally had a major role to play in the development of science and technology. In 2016, a group of American economists published a paper showing a strong correlation between places that had post offices nearby and places where patents were filed from. Moreover, when new post offices were opened, patent applications increased from that place. The postal system may not be as important as it used to be,

but that's only because we have something better, cheaper, and faster now. Nonetheless, postal delivery played an enormous part in the spread of ideas and information which helped create the modern world. Everything Everywhere Daily is an Airwave Media podcast. The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. I just wanted to extend a big thank you to everyone who is supporting the show over at patreon.com. I have show merchandise available there, including hoodies, t-shirts, and stickers.

Plus, it really just helps me get this show out every single day, including, of course, weekends and holidays. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you too can have it read on the show.