Sunday, January 28, 2018

People In The Post...!

Yesterday we did a post about cats in the post. Let's take that thought a step further, shall we?

Children



Photo credit: postalmuseum.si.edu

We have seen people sent through the mail for political reasons and to escape a horrific life, but there have been more prosaic reasons to send human letters. The Parcel Post Service revolutionized package delivery when it began in the US in 1913. Prior to this, people had to carry their packages to large towns to send.

Now every post office would deal with your parcel as long as it weighed less than 5 kilograms (11 lb). That same year, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Beauge in Ohio posted their 5-kilogram (10 lb) baby to his grandmother’s house at a cost of 15 cents. They even insured the kid for $50.

When this weight limit was changed to 23 kilograms (50 lb), two parents had a cunning idea. May Pierstorff’s parents wanted to send her to visit her grandmother but thought the cost of a train ticket was far too high. They attached the correct number of stamps to May’s coat, and the 22-kilogram (48.5 lb), five-year-old child was shipped in the mail carriage of a train to her grandmother.

In 1914, the postmaster general put a stop to using the postal service to send people.

I think that none of us today would even consider sending our child in the mail. I figure instead we would at least use UPS or FedEx.

Coffee out on the slightly chilly patio this morning!

4 comments:

JO said...

Good Grief! At least they weren't in some kind of box if you have to try and find a nice thing about any of this.

Not a cold as it has been with the morning high so far is 54.

Momlady said...

I hate to think what might happen to children shipped like that these days. Yikes!

HermitJim said...

Hey Jo...
I wonder if the children had bad affects after the mailing events. Seems as though it would have been traumatic, to say the least!
Thanks fr dropping by today, dear!


Hey Momlady...
I'm not sure I would trust the post office to handle anything as fragile as children.
Thanks for stopping by today!

taminator013 said...

Ha! I thought it was going to be about launching kids through pneumatic tubes.........