Will we be using stamps in the next 20 years.
Penny Black, the First Stamp takes birth in 1840
Almost 21 years from now it will be 200 years since the first stamp was introduced. The question is whether stamps will be around by 2040 or will these be part of history and reside in a museum, just like Penny Black, the first stamp introduced in 1840.
Many tasks that required mailing are now being done electronically so there is a real question as to the future of stamps and post offices. Still when in Washington D.C. do not forget to stop by the Postal Museum. It has a collection of illustrated pieces of gummed paper that provide a gateway to history. There are stories for everyone in the museum.
The Story Teller
And it is a true story
Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle “mailed” their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia. According to Lynch, Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his “delivery” cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50). The quirky story soon made newspapers, and for the next several years, similar stories would occasionally surface as other parents followed suit. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/
Notice the placement of stamps, there was no norm and people did not know where to stick the stamp so they decided to place the stamps right in the middle. Today almost all around the world stamps are glued to the right top of the envelope.
Mistakes can bring fortunes
If you have one of these stamps you could be millionaire.
The Only Letter that traveled the distance between Earth and Moon.
You can spend hours exploring the treasures
This is the Mail Box that survived 9/11. It was on the street right next to the twin towers.
You do recognize this person depicted in the German Stamp. This is the letter from the Auschwitz camp.
The smallest post office in the US. It is still true that with all the courier services available no courier service has the reach that postal services have in any country. Postal services deliver mail to the most remote areas where no courier service will ever go as profit trumps service for these companies, no pun intended.
This was the Post Master's office
Yes the Mail traveled on donkeys
The Grand Entrance and time for us to explore other things in Washington D.C.
Also of interest
Read about African American Museum
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