A History of the Parcel: Day 5

Our final instalment surrounding the history of the parcel focuses on postal services that date back as far as the seventeenth century. The postal system exploded into life during the 17th century with significant developments in the industry occurring across the UK and the US. The way in which parcel service’s ship items internationally has changed dramatically over the years, whilst you may be surprised to learn about the origins of the postal system in many countries and how local postage has changed since its introduction.

In 1635, Charles I made the first ever postage system available to the public, whereby the recipient would pay for any post or parcel that they received. This was the birth of the Royal Mail service in the UK. Meanwhile, four years later in the United States, the General Court of Massachusetts designated the tavern of Richard Fairbanks in Boston as the first postal establishment for the 13 colonies. It was known as the official repository of overseas mail.

In 1660, Charles II established the General Post Office which combined the state postal system and telecommunications in its services. Three years later, the Colony of Barbados welcomed the Imperial Post Office to its lands for the first time. Later in the century, William Dockwra introduced the London Penny Post, the first local postal service to come into existence. In the same century, Switzerland began using private postal services in Bern for the first time.

If you need to send a parcel abroad in the near future and need an up-to-date service that is certain to get your gift or item from A to B without incident, have a look at some of the services RAND Logistics has to offer.

A History of the Parcel: Day 4

Our penultimate post surrounding the history of the parcel concentrates on significant changes that came around in the 1980’s and 90’s. Whilst these decades may seem particularly recent, there are still plenty of interesting facts to be known about how sending a parcel internationally changed in various ways. Here’s an overview of some of the major changes that happened throughout these particular decades with regards to the postal service.

The United States began using Electronic Computer Originated Mail (E-COM) in 1982. However, E-COM was only in use for a further three years after it was terminated completely by the USA in 1985. A year later, they introduced the ZIP + 4 in order to expand the coded system. In 1985, Jackie Strange became the first female deputy US Postmaster general.

In 1992, Canada became the first country to develop customisable stamps that were intended for greeting purposes. This particular form of stamp has become a phenomenon throughout major seasons such as Christmas and Easter time.

A number of countries began issuing their first ever set of stamps in the 1980’s and 1990’s, including Burkina Faso, Aruba, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

If you need to send a parcel internationally, why not make the most of the services RAND Logistics has to offer?