World Post Day

World Post Day is observed on October 9.  We remembered  the  communication methods of the past with some good old-fashioned letters. Mail carrier services have been in existence since ancient times. World Post Day marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union.   October 9 every year the date was selected as it marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union in 1874. Origins of what we now know as the postal service date to Ancient Egypt circa 2500 BC, while the oldest official postal service is found in 550 BC Iran.  Various civilizations utilized a courier service to pass letters, messages, news, and parcels across empires spanning thousands of miles, inspiring the modern idea of the mailman. The US’s own postal service dates back to Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general in 1775.

On October 9, 1874, the Universal Postal Union was established as a means of cooperation and regulation amongst its member states’ mail services .  Today it allows mail to flow freely from your mailbox to Timbuktu, and everywhere in between!  In 1969, World Post Day was inaugurated at the Tokyo Universal Postal Congress.