The Post Office and Mail Carriers in Old Time Radio

As we enter the third decade of the Twenty-first Century, physical mail and letter writing seem to grow more and more irrelevant and old-fashioned. The amount of mail delivered has been declining since 2001 as more profitable and efficient package delivery services come online and personal correspondence turns to electronic and Internet-based transmission. However, the recent national election cycle demonstrated the importance of maintaining and supporting the infrastructure of the United States Postal Service.

In ancient times, sharing information between separate locations required telling the message to someone who would travel to whomever the message was for and tell them the information. If the information was in any way sensitive or secret, the problems of this system are obvious, not to mention the inevitable inaccuracy of depending on the messenger to correctly remember the message.

Several of the problems of this system would be corrected when writing was developed. Carrying a written message was much more accurate and secure. Several ancient dynasties created message carrying systems that were precursors to the modern postal structure. The rise of literacy and the mercantile class led to wider use of these nascent postal systems.

King Charles of England established the Royal Mail in 1660, and around 1840 the Universal Penny Post was adopted. The Penny Post was a government monopoly that introduced preprinted envelopes and self-adhesive stamps. The system allowed for anyone in the Kingdom to send a message to anyone else for a low rate with a better-than-reasonable expectation that the letter would arrive. Postal rates to the Colonies was several times more expensive, but still relatively low.

Benjamin Franklin became deputy postmaster general in the American Colonies in 1753 and he instituted many beneficial reforms to the service, including regularly scheduled delivery and establishment of Post Roads. When Franklin's anti-Crown sympathies became too egregious he was fired by the British but appointed by the Second Continental Congress as the first PostMaster General of the United States in 1775.

Most postal innovations have been towards making letter collection, distribution, and delivery more efficient and secure. The USPS added parcel post services in 1913. It was not unheard of for parents in the American West to attach stamps to the clothing of young children so that the Postal Service would deliver the children to relatives. Supposedly, the rare practice was officially banned in 1915 when the Postmaster General received a letter of inquiry about how best to wrap an infant in a package.

For several decades, the US Postal Service was one of the largest businesses in the world. Electronic messaging (Email) has largely supplanted letter writing and in the age of E-Commerce, most parcel deliveries are by commercial carriers. However, the US Postal Service is one of the few government agencies specifically mentioned in the Constitution and its continued operation is vital for National Security

• Fibber McGee and Molly, December 10, 1940. The Master and Mistress of 79 Wistful Vista are on their way to mail their Christmas gift to beat the rush. Of course, it is difficult to get out the front door with so many friends knocking on it but the real adventure begins when they finally reach the Federal Outpost.
• The Lucky Strike Program Starring Jack Benny, March 30, 1947. Jack and the Gang are in San Francisco where Mr. Benny is approached by a frustrated postal worker (played by Mel Blanc). It seems that the San Francisco Post Office is overflowing with letters stating "I can't stand Jack Benny!".
• Dragnet, May 24, 1951, "The Big Mailman''. A mail thief has moved his operations to Los Angeles from San Diego. The crook gets a key to a group mailbox and makes off with checks.  The rightful payees often do not realize that the checks are missing until later, but now Sergeant Friday is on the job.
• The Silent Men, May 14, 1952, "The Miracle Cure for Cancer". Mr. Fairbanks plays a Postal Inspector who is chasing down a fraud case of the worst kind, the crooks prey on the hopes of terminal cancer patients.

See also: Airmail Mysteries