A mailbox in the shape of a tractor.
Post a picture of yourself with the tractor.
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1639
Richard Fairbanks’ tavern in Boston named repository for overseas mail
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1775
Benjamin Franklin was appointed first Postmaster General under Continental
Congress
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1777
Continental Congress authorized appointment of an inspector of dead letters
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1789
Samuel Osgood was appointed first Postmaster General under Constitution
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1823
Navigable waters designated post roads by Congress
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1829
Postmaster General joined Cabinet
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1830
Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations established, later became
Office of the Chief Postal Inspector
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1838
Railroads designated post routes by Congress
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1845
Act of Congress created star routes
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1847
U.S. Postage stamps issued
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1853
Stamped envelopes issued
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1855
Registered Mail began - Prepayment of postage required
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1858
Street letter boxes installed
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1860
Pony Express started
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1862
Railway Mail Service began experimentally
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1863
Free city delivery instituted - Postage rates became uniform, regardless of
distance - Domestic mail divided into three classes
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1864
Post offices categorized by class - Railway Mail Service inaugurated -
Postal money order system created
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1869
International money orders offered
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1872
Congress enacted Mail Fraud Statute
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1873
U.S. Postal cards issued
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1874
General Postal Union established (later Universal Postal Union)
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1879
Domestic mail divided into four classes
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1880
Congress established title of Chief Post Office Inspector
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1885
Special delivery began
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1887
International Parcel Post instituted
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1893
First commemorative stamps issued
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1896
Rural free delivery began experimentally
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1898
Private postcards authorized
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1902
Rural free delivery became permanent service
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1911
Postal Savings System started - First carriage of mail by airplane
sanctioned by the Post Office Department
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1912
Village delivery offered
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1913
Parcel Post began - Insurance offered - Collect on delivery (COD) offered
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1914
Government-owned and-operated vehicle service instituted
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1916
Postal inspectors solve last known stagecoach robbery
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1918
Scheduled airmail service began - Non-profit second-class rates effective
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1920
Metered postage authorized
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1924
Scheduled transcontinental airmail service began
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1925
Special handling offered
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1927
International airmail began
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1935
Trans-Pacific airmail began
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1939
Trans-Atlantic airmail began - Autogiro service started experimentally
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1941
Highway Post Offices started
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1942
V-mail inaugurated
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1943
Postal zoning system began in 124 large Post Offices
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1948
Domestic and International Air Parcel Post inaugurated
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1950
Residential deliveries reduced to once a day
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1952
Non-profit third-class rates effective
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1953
Piggy-back mail service by trailers or railroad flatcars started
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1955
Certified mail introduced
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1957
Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee created
-
1959
Missile mail dispatched from submarine to mainland Florida
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1960
Facsimile mail offered
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1963
ZIP Code and sectional center plan implemented
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1964
Self-service Post Offices open Postmark simplified
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1965
Optical scanner (ZIP Code reader) tested
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1966
Postal Savings System terminated
-
1967
Presorting by ZIP Code became mandatory for second- and third-class mailers
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1968
Priority Mail established as a subclass of First-Class Mail
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1969
Patronage eliminated in Postmaster and rural carrier appointments
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1970
Postal Reorganization Act signed - Express Mail began experimentally -
MAILGRAM instituted
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1971
United States Postal Service began operations - Postmaster General no longer
in Cabinet - Labor contract negotiated through collective bargaining, a
first for the federal government - National service standards established -
Letter cancelled on moon by Apollo 15 mission
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1972
Stamps by mail instituted - Passport applications accepted in Post Offices
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1973
National service standards expanded
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1974
Highway Post Offices terminated - Satellite transmission of MAILGRAMs began
- Self-adhesive stamps introduced
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1975
Post Office class categories eliminated
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1976
Discount offered for presorted First-Class Mail
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1977
Airmail abolished as a separate rate category - Express Mail became
permanent new class of service - Final run of Railroad Post Office on June
30
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1978
Discount offered for presorted second-class mail - Postage stamps and other
philatelic items copyrighted
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1979
Discount offered for presorted bulk third-class mail - Postal Career
Executive Service (PCES) established - New size standards implemented
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1980
INTELPOST (high-speed international electronic message service) began
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1981
Controlled circulation classification discontinued - Discount offered for
First-Class Mail presorted to carrier routes
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1982
Automation began with installation of optical character readers - E-COM
(Electronic Computer-Originated Mail) offered - Last year Postal Service
received public service subsidy
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1983
ZIP+4 code instituted
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1984
Integrated retail terminals automated postal windows
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1985
E-COM terminated
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1986
Field divisions created
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1987
Stamps by Phone available - Multiline optical character readers ordered
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1988
Small parcel and bundle sorters deployed - Delivery point sequence
processing began
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1989
First Postal Store opened
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1990
International business reply mail offered - Easy Stamp allowed computer
purchase of stamps - Independent measurement of First-Class Mail service
implemented - Wide area barcode sorters added
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1992
Remote barcoding system introduced - Area and district offices created for
customer service and mail processing - Stamps sold through automatic teller
machines - Flats barcoded for automated sorting
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1993
New corporate logo introduced - Postal Service sold First Day Covers -
National Postal Museum opened in Washington, D.C.
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1996
Classification reform enacted - Standard Mail category created - Inspector
General appointed by Governors - Postal Service released automated postage
software via Internet - Self-adhesive coil stamps sold
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1997
Postal Service launched public Internet site - Robotic containerization
systems deployed - Flat-sorters modified to handle newspapers and magazines
- Linerless self-adhesive coil stamps offered - StampsOnline instituted
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1998
U.S. semipostal stamp issued
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1999
Delivery Confirmation launched - PC Postage introduced - Resolve Employment
Disputes Reach Equitable Solutions Swiftly (REDRESS) implemented - POS
(Point of Service) ONE began - AFSM 100 (Automated flat sorting machine)
installed - Lance Armstrong of the USPS Pro Cycling Team won his first Tour
de France
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2000
Report of the USPS Commission on a Safe and Secure Workplace (Califano
Report) issued - External First Class (EXFC) scores reached record high of
94 percent for the first time
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2001
Business alliance with FedEx formed - Mail irradiated due to anthrax threat
- Signature Confirmation launched
-
2002
Segway Human Transporter used experimentally - Transformation Plan released
- President’s Commission on the United States Postal Service established -
Record levels of service performance posted for First-Class Mail and
Priority Mail