U.S. Postal Service in History

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February 6, the United States Postal Service has announced that they will be stopping mail service delivery for Saturdays reducing it to five business days. This made me dig deeper into the details and found instead a full history on History.com. First, I would like to say that this cutback is going to allow the USPS to save $2 billion annually and it's an independent agency that is not funded by taxpayers. I'm wondering who is it that its actually going to benefit the most if this will come to pass. It's still under debate and they are going to try to get it passed without the Congressional approval; yet it is still subject to control by the U.S. Congress. How are they going to bypass one thing to accomplish the other? I'm going to touch on a few points in the USPS historical events here. The Postal Service began before the American Revolution with less than 100 branches. At that point, it's delivery was limited and was not nationwide. It's first postmaster general was Benjamin Franklin and became one of the first notable person's in history to bare his face on stamps along with our first president, George Washington! The stamps were introduced in 1847. Commemorative stamps began to roll out and many notables began to appear including Christopher Columbus. To date, you can now find in the United States Postal Museum faces including those of Lucille Ball. I remember when hers came out. I know a couple of people who are collectors of stamps. It's a great hobby for avid enthusiasts! Based on television shows and other literature I have read, I am not surprised when I read further to discover that mail delivery was limited to postal locations where you would have to go pick up your letters and packages. This occurred until the 1800's. By 1930, however, mail was being delivered even in rural areas by carriers and you could order money orders and stamps from them directly. What a nice perk! Imagine a time that we didn't have to visit a postal center to purchase these. The most notable point in USPS history, in my opinion, is that mail was delivered up to seven times per day all seven days in the week up until 1912. That was shortly before World War I, which began on July 28, 1914 in Europe! It seems we, also, had an unofficial mascot! I didn't even know this until I got to the end of the article. Apparently, staff from Albany, New York adopted a homeless dog named Owney, which traveled with them nationally and internationally until he was put to sleep for biting an Ohio clerk. I enjoyed greatly reading this article from History.com. It's quite lengthy but very informative for history buffs. I only know one friend who worked for the USPS and I applied myself over 15 years ago but failed to find a position. If you have time to read the full article, here is the link: http://www.history.com/news/neither-snow-nor-rain-nor-heat-nor-gloom-can-stop-the-u-s-postal-service-but-saturdays-soon-will Comments will be greatly appreciated.