Explore the history of postal workers, from ancient Persia to the 1970 wildcat strike and the bizarre era when you could mail a child. ALEX: In 1914, a woman named Charlotte May Pierstorff was delivered to her grandmother’s house. She wasn't an orphan, and she didn't take a train; she was mailed through the U.S. Postal Service for fifty-three cents in stamps because it was cheaper than a passenger ticket. JORDAN: Wait, back up. They literally put a postage stamp on a human child and sent her on her way? ALEX: They did. For a brief two-year window after Parcel Post launched, the rules were so vague that people were mailing babies and chickens. The Postmaster General finally had to step in and say 'No, you cannot mail humans.' It’s just one weird chapter in the life of the postal worker, a job that’s been the backbone of civilization since ancient Persia. JORDAN: I always think of them as the people who bring me junk mail and Amazon packages, but you’re saying they’re basically the original internet. ALEX: Exactly. Today we’re looking at the postal worker—the human link that connects every single address in the nation, from the canyons of Manhattan to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. [CHAPTER 1 - Origin] ALEX: Most people think the postal worker started with the blue truck, but we have to go back to 550 BCE. Cyrus the Great of Persia set up the first organized system. The Greek historian Herodotus watched these couriers and wrote the words that became the unofficial motto: 'Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers.' JORDAN: So the USPS didn't actually come up with that? They just borrowed it from an ancient Greek guy watching Persians ride horses? ALEX: Precisely. Fast forward to the American colonies, and the post office was actually our first act of rebellion. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress established a 'Constitutional Post' to bypass the British system. They appointed Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General because he was an efficiency genius. JORDAN: Good old Ben. I bet he wasn't delivering to front doors yet, though. ALEX: No, back then you had to go to a tavern to get your mail. Richard Fairbanks’ tavern in Boston was the official hub. It wasn't until 1863, during the Civil War, that a clerk named Joseph Briggs noticed women waiting in long lines at the post office, often in the cold, hoping for news from the front lines. He proposed Free City Delivery—bringing the mail directly to homes. JORDAN: That’s a huge shift. That’s when the 'mailman' becomes a neighbor instead of just a guy at a counter. [CHAPTER 2 - Core Story] ALEX: Once the postman started walking the beat, the job became a mirror for American growth. In 1860, the Pony Express proved Americans were obsessed with speed. By 1896, Rural Free Delivery started, which basically told every farmer in the middle of nowhere, 'You are part of this country, too.' JORDAN: It sounds like a public service dream, but when did it start feeling like a business? ALEX: That turning point happened in March 1970. Before then, postal workers weren't allowed to collective bargain. They were underpaid, the conditions were grueling, and the mail was piling up. So, 200,000 workers walked off the job in a massive, illegal wildcat strike. JORDAN: Illegal? Did the government try to stop them? ALEX: President Nixon actually called in the National Guard to try and sort the mail in New York City. It was a disaster. The soldiers couldn't figure out the complex sorting systems. The strike worked. It forced the government to pass the Postal Reorganization Act of 1971. JORDAN: So that’s why it’s the USPS now instead of just the Post Office Department? ALEX: Right. It turned them into a self-funding, independent agency. But it also created a tension that exists today: they have to act like a business and make a profit, but they also have a 'Universal Service Obligation.' They legally have to deliver to every single address, even if it costs them ten dollars to deliver a fifty-cent letter to a remote cabin in Alaska. JORDAN: And we can't talk about the job without that dark phrase from the 90s—'going postal.' Where did that actually come from? ALEX: It’s a tragic part of the history. In the 80s and 90s, there was a series of high-profile workplace shootings by postal employees. The term became shorthand for work-related rage, though studies later showed that postal workers weren't actually more prone to violence than people in other high-stress jobs. It just stuck because the post office is so visible. [CHAPTER 3 - Why It Matters] JORDAN: So, in a world of email and Slack, why are we still employing nearly 600,000 people to put paper in boxes? ALEX: Because the postal worker is the only person who visits every home in America six days a week. They are a massive logistical network that no private company wants to fully take over because the 'last mile' of delivery is incredibly expensive. JORDAN: Right, FedEx and UPS often hand their packages off to the USPS for that final delivery because they don't want to drive out to the sticks. ALEX: Exactly. Plus, look at 2020. During the pandemic, postal workers became the literal infrastructure of democracy. They handled the surge in mail-in voting while the Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, was under fire for cutting overtime and removing sorting machines. They were the center of a national firestorm, yet they still delivered the ballots. JORDAN: It’s wild that a job that started with Ben Franklin is now at the center of modern election conspiracies and Amazon logistics. ALEX: It shows how vital they are. They’ve survived the move from horses to steamboats, to airmail, and now to the package-delivery boom. They even used to have a banking system! From 1911 to 1967, you could open a savings account at the post office. JORDAN: Seriously? They were bankers, too? ALEX: They were the most trusted face of the government. And in many rural towns, they still are. They check on the elderly, they know who’s moved away, and they protect the 'Sanctity of the Mail.' Tampering with a letter is a federal felony because the postal worker takes an oath to protect your privacy. [OUTRO] JORDAN: Okay, Alex, what’s the one thing to remember about the postal worker? ALEX: They are the human infrastructure that transforms a collection of individual houses into a unified national network. JORDAN: That’s Wikipodia — every story, on demand. Search your next topic at wikipodia.ai
