American Mailers Inc history

By 1813, the Post Office was already using steamboats to bring mail to post towns that were difficult to reach by road.

A second train, the Tom Thumb, became the first steam-powered locomotive to be used for delivery in 1830.

Trains were used beginning in 1831, 7 years before railroads were even considered post roads.

In 1838, after the designation of railroads across the US as postal routes, railway mail service increased.

After the 1848 gold rush, the Post Office Department awarded a contract to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to transport mail to California.

Collection mailboxes, adopted by the postal service in the 1850’s, were made for the public to deposit outgoing mail and first appeared in cities.

In 1858, the first mail collection boxes began to appear in larger cities.

In 1860, the Pony Express was the brainchild of William H. Russell who had failed repeatedly in getting postal backing to carry mail.

On October 24, 1861, the transcontinental telegraph line was completed and the Pony Express, suffering from financial difficulties, was sold to Wells Fargo, and became a legend.

Mailboxes become a must Mailboxes became a necessity in 1863, when citizens began enjoying Free City Delivery.

The first railroad postal route was established in 1864 when a general distribution postal car went into service for the Chicago to Clinton, Iowa route.

By late 1865, nearly 250 postal routes were already up and running to service the Southern states.

Initially, only letter mail was sorted on the postal cars but by 1869, other types of mail were also sorted.

It is difficult to think of balloons as a form of transportation, however, on September 23, 1870, more than 500 pounds of mail was sent aloft.

The New York Life Insurance Co. began direct mailings as early as 1872.

By 1888, he was making $1 million in sales.1

By 1890, mail was already being delivered to residents of cities in the United States by over 450 post offices.

At first they were installed on lampposts but these units were later replaced by free-standing mailboxes in 1894.

By 1896, the newest mode of transportation, referred to as the horseless wagon was already being developed.

By 1899, the Post Office had already tested the feasibility of utilizing the automobile for collecting mail in New York.

The first contract that would allow an automobile to carry mail was entered into in 1901.

By late 1914, Congress approved the use of a dedicated motor vehicle exclusively for postal delivery.

On May 15, 1918, The United States Post Office inaugurated airmail service from the Polo Grounds, Washington, D.C, thus establishing the Air Mail Service of the United States Post Office Department.

Banking on the postal service Congress signed an Act in 1919 to establish a savings system using the nation’s post offices.

In 1921, night and day flights began to be scheduled for the San Francisco-New York route.

The curbside modern mailbox, though it existed in various forms before then, saw its permanent rise in 1923, when the postal service required them for residential properties.

The Book-of-the-Month Club (a continuity program) began in 1926.

The former March of Dimes (then National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis) started in 1938.

After the 1958 Transportation Act was passed, passenger trains carrying mail began to decline in popularity.

Direct marketing giants Publisher’s Clearing House sold magazine subscriptions and eventually introduced their popular sweepstakes in 1967.

By 1970, it was rare to find First Class mail on the railroads and only 8 routes remained.

These mailboxes were designed to improve upon and replace old NDCBU’s and 4B mailboxes, and became required for new installations in 2006.

In 2009 alone, post offices saw a 13% drop in mail volume.

by David Kindervater | Mar 19, 2019 | Direct Mail Marketing | 16 Comments