About US Postage

History

• Postage stamps were introduced in Britain in 1840. Other countries (including the U.S.) watched this new invention with avid interest. In 1842 a man named Alexander Greig created the first dispatch post in New York City. This dispatch post served a portion of New York City. Postage stamps with Washington on them were issued privately by Greig.

  Several months later, Greig sold his dispatch post to the U.S. government. The government began to operate the dispatch post immediately.

First Postage

• Two different postage stamps were first issued in 1847. The first was reddish in color, had a picture of Benjamin Franklin on it and cost 5 cents. This stamp would mail a letter that weighed less than 1 oz. and traveled less than 300 miles to its destination. The second stamp was black, had a picture of George Washington on it and cost 10 cents. This stamp would mail a letter that weight up to 2 oz. and traveled more than 300 miles to its destination.

Designs

• The first postage stamps that were produced with different designs came out in 1869. Some designs included a locomotive, a pony express rider, a steamship, Christopher Columbus and a picture showing the signing of the Declaration of Independence. These were the first stamps that used two colors instead of just one color.

Features

• Self-adhesive stamps were first released in 1974. The adhesive on these stamps was flawed, however, and these stamps were not used for long due to this flaw. In 1989 a different kind of adhesive stamp was released. These stamps were an improvement over the first kind of self-adhesive stamp. Gradually, self adhesive stamps became the main type of stamp and the old traditional stamps are not sold anymore at post offices.

Warning

• The U.S. Postal Service has suffered with the increased use of electronic mail. In 2008, it reported huge net losses. These losses are generally blamed on a difficult economy and rising fuel prices. The Postmaster General has petitioned Congress for permission to reduce the number of mail delivery days if necessary for the continued solvency of the U.S. Postal Service.