Have You Gone Postal Lately?

I would rather eat chicken fried steak than go to the post office. (Okay so not quite, but almost.) Where else do you stand in such a ridiculously long line, only to be waited on by a ridiculously rude clerk, only to be charged a ridiculously large amount of money for something that may or may not arrive when and where it is supposed to? Then there is that little thing about "going postal..."

Supposedly, one of the first questions asked at the Continental Congress in May 1775 was, "What about the mail?" When the Articles of the Confederation were ratified in 1781, Article IX they answered this question by granting the United States government a monopoly power over the delivery of our mail. I assure you, this is where our problems with the post office began.

In the 1840s-50s the mail system, especially where the west coast was considered, was extremely inefficient. (C'mon, don't tell me you're not thinking "was?") The mail traveled by ship from New York to Panama, then traveled across Panama via train and then up to San Francisco by yet another ship. As you can imagine, Los Angeles saw their mail, at times, four weeks after it landed in San Francisco (if they saw it all). (The next time you stand in line at the post office for 20 minutes only to deal with a crabby clerk, about your lost mail, ask yourself, "How much has really changed?")

A daring young entrepreneur, William H. Russell, begged the Senate Post Office repeatedly for permission to develop a route directly across the United States. They continued to turn him down but Russell chose to do it anyway. He instituted a search for young fellows, under the age of 18, preferably orphans, to deliver mail. The riders had to promise not to cuss or abuse the horses. On April 3, 1860 the Pony Express was born. It ran through Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. The fastest delivery ever was recorded in March 1861 when President Lincoln's inaugural address was delivered in under eight days. From weeks to days. The irony? The Pony Express operated as a private entity from April 1860-June 1861.

As you well know, the postal service raised first class rates to thirty-three cents in January. Currently, the Postal Service's Board of Governors approve the rate hikes. Not surprisingly, the Postal Service Board has the best interest of the Postal Service at heart and not the consumers.

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