Mobile Post Offices

Shortly after getting my first apartment, I was like a lot of fresh out of college kids always forgetting things like postage stamps. One day, when I had to mail an already late payment, I simply taped a quarter and penny or two to the envelope. I figured the post office would know what to do. As fate would have it, the apartment complex's postman happened to be delivering mail to all the boxes. While he wasn't too pleased at my solution, he did offer me an alternative.

He said I could give him the money and he would give me a stamp. I'm not sure why but I found it fascinating that the postman actually carried and dispensed stamps. Seeing my awe, he began to tell me of all the other things he could and was expected to do. I was about to ask him if he carried selective service cards too. But since he was already beginning to edge away from me nervously, I decided research my questions on my own.

I ended up sending away for a postal workers' exam packet. I was simply amazed at all the requirements involved. It wasn't advanced calculus or astrophysics but it was quite a bit more involved than I ever imagined. And some of the example tests, like scanning large lists of names and addresses for a single match within a minute time frame, I admittedly failed.

I never did take the exam; the idea of being shipped off to wherever you were needed was a little too scary for me at the time. But I did develop an appreciation for the postal service that the United States takes very seriously. Since then, I've picked up various little bits of interesting postal history. For instance, did you know that mail is sorted and processed on trains and ships? Always looking to be more efficient, the US postal service decided that having mail wait idly until it reached its destination just wouldn't do. They not only began to sort and process mail and cancel stamps on board, they also made pick ups and deliveries to railroad post offices. Remember the bags on hooks in old cartoons? Those really existed. Never needing to slow their pace, the train would simply swoop by and hook the mail bags. This on board processing is also why you'll see some railway cancel marks on older postage stamps.

-- James the Web guy