Postage Timeline
Return to
home
History: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_postal_history
1464Â Â Â
   Jun 19, French King Louis XI formed a postal
service.
   (MC, 6/19/02)
1692Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb, William and Mary
granted a royal license for postal service in the American colonies.
It empowered Thomas Neale "to erect, settle and establish within the
chief parts of their majesties' colonies and plantations in America,
an office or offices for the receiving and dispatching letters and
pacquets, and to receive, send and deliver the same under such rates
and sums of money as the planters shall agree to give, and to hold
and enjoy the same for the term of twenty-one years.”
   (Econ, 8/20/11,
p.32)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service)
1711Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 1, The Queen Anne Act,
known as The British Post Office Act of 1710, took effect in North
America on June 1, 1711. It created a formula that was used to
improve the colonial postal system and remained in effect in North
America until 1789. Colonists came to view the postal rates set
forth in the act as an excessive and unwelcome form of taxation. The
rates were revised by a later act, which took effect on October 10,
1765.
   (http://tinyurl.com/adqtq)
1753Â Â Â Â Â Â The British Crown
appointed Benjamin Franklin postmaster of its American colonies.
   (Econ, 11/21/15, p.29)
1775Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 26, The Continental
Congress established a postal system for the colonies with Benjamin
Franklin as the first postmaster general.
   (AP, 7/26/97)(HN, 7/26/98)
1777-1791Â Â Â Vermont became a country unto itself. It
coined its own money, set up its own postal service and elected its
own president.
   (SFC, 9/22/96, Z 1 p.2)
1789Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 22, The US Act 1 Stat.
70 temporarily established a post office and created the Office of
the Postmaster General.
   (AP, 9/22/97)(www.usps.com/history/his1_5.htm)
1789Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 26, George Washington
appointed Samuel Osgood of Massachusetts as the first Postmaster
General under the Constitution.
   (www.usps.com/history/his1_5.htm)
1792Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 20, President
Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office. [see Feb 20,
1789, May 8, 1794]
   (HN, 2/20/98)(AP, 2/20/98)
1835Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 31, Angry mob in
Charleston, South Carolina, seized U-S mail containing abolitionist
literature and burned it in public.
   (MC, 8/31/01)
1840Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, The 1st adhesive
postage stamps, the" Penny Blacks" from England, were issued.
   (MC, 5/1/02)
1841Â Â Â Â Â Â Britain’s Royal Mail set
up a postal service for Hong Kong.
   (Econ, 10/24/15, p.42)
1842Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 15, The 1st adhesive
postage stamps in US were made available by a private delivery
company in NYC.
   (440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1845Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 3, Congress authorized
ocean mail contracts for foreign mail delivery.
   (SC, 3/3/02)
1847Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 3, Post Office
Department was authorized to issue postage stamps.
   (SC, 3/3/02)
1847Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, The faces of
founding fathers Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were
pictured on the first U.S. government-sponsored postage stamps.
Following a Congressional directive, the Post Office issued a
Franklin five-cent stamp and a Washington 10-cent stamp.
   (HNQ, 5/16/98)(HN, 7/1/98)
1847Â Â Â Â Â Â Mauritius, a British ruled
island nation, issued the two-pence “Post Office” Blue Mauritius
postage stamp along with a similar one penny orange stamp. They
became very rare and in 1904 Britain’s King George V acquired a Blue
Mauritius for £1,450. In 2008 Helen Morgan authored “Blue Mauritius:
The Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps.”
   (WSJ, 8/9/08, p.W9)
1851Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, Canada issued its
first postage stamp, the Three-Penny Beaver, which carried an image
of the beaver.
   (CFA, '96, p.44)(Econ, 1/23/10,
p.38)Â Â Â
1853-1857Â Â Â The 1st perforated postage stamps were
made under the administration of Pres. Franklin Pierce.
   (WSJ, 2/11/03, p.A10)
1855Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 3, Registration of
letters was authorized by Congress.
   (SC, 3/3/02)
1856Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 3, John Thompson
(1827-1876), Norway-born immigrant, departed Placerville, Ca., with
skies and snow shoes on his first mail run to Carson City, Nevada.
By the spring of 1857 he made 31 crossings of the Sierra to deliver
mail.
   (ON, 4/10, p.7)
1858Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 9, The mailbox was
patented.
   (HN, 3/9/98)
1860Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, The US Pony Express
mail system began when one horse and rider carrying a bulging mail
pouch began the 10 1/2-day run from San Francisco, Calif., to St.
Joseph, Mo. Riders left St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, Ca., at
the same time. They averaged 12 mph over 75-100 mile segments
between 153 (190) change stations. The freight company of Russell,
Majors and Waddell began the service. The enterprise failed after
only 18 months, however, due to mounting financial losses and
competition from the ever-expanding telegraph network. Donald C.
Biggs (d.2000 at 72), prof. of history at SF State, later authored
""The Pony Express: Creation of the Legend."
   (CL, 4/3/96)(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D4) (AP, 4/3/97)
(HN, 4/3/98)(HNPD, 4/20/99)(SFC, 6/12/00, p.A24)(AH, 10/01,
p.12)(MC, 4/3/02)
1860Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, 1st Pony Express
reached Sacramento, Calif.
   (MC, 4/13/02)
1861Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, Postmaster General
Blair announced the end of postal connection with South.
   (MC, 5/26/02)
1861Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 3, Pony Express
arrived in SF with overland letters from NY.
   (MC, 7/3/02)
1868Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 17, Postage stamp
canceling machine patent was issued.
   (HN, 3/17/98)
1869Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, Postage stamps
showing scenes were issued for 1st time.
   (SC, 3/1/02)
1869Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 1, Austria issued the
world's first postal card. The first postal card was suggested by
Dr. Emanuel Herrmann and was accepted by the Hungarian government in
the same year. The first regularly printed card appeared in 1870, a
historical card, produced in connection with the Franco-German War.
The first advertising card appeared in 1872 in Great Britain. The
first German card appeared in 1874. Cards showing the Eiffel Tower
in 1889 & 1890 gave impetus to the postcard heyday a decade
later. A Heligoland card of 1889 is considered the first
multi-colored card ever printed.
   (http://shilohpostcards.com/webdoc2.htm)
1872Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 9, Aaron Montgomery
started his mail-order business. Montgomery Wards, a pioneer of
mail-order catalogs, was founded. The catalog of Aaron Montgomery
Ward was the first to be called a "Wish Book." The 1871 Chicago fire
destroyed his initial inventory.
   (SFC, 7/8/97, p.A1)(SFEC, 5/30/99, Z1 p.8)(SFC,
12/29/00, p.A12)(MC, 10/9/01)
1872Â Â Â Â Â Â US Congress passed
legislation forbidding advertisements on American currency and
postage. The law regarding postage was amended in Jan, 2006.
   (SFC, 6/1/06, p.A1)
1873Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 3, US Congress
authorized federal departmental postage stamps.
   (SC, 3/3/02)
1873Â Â Â Â Â Â May 12, The penny postal
card, issued by the Post Office Department, was first put on sale in
Springfield, Mass., and in other cities a day later.
  Â
(www.dailymail.com/static/specialsections/lookingback/lb0201.htm)
1873Â Â Â Â Â Â The "franking privilege"
of sending mail free of charge, initiated in 1776 and extended to
war veterans, became too widespread and was abolished because it had
become too widespread and abused. In 1874 Congress began to
gradually reinstate to federal agencies and representatives.
   (HNQ, 9/19/00)
1874Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 9, In Switzerland the
Universal Postal Union (UPU) was established by the Treaty of Bern.
Prior to this each country had to prepare a separate postal treaty
with other nations if it wished to carry international mail to or
from them.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union)
1885Â Â Â Â Â Â A Swedish “Treskilling
Yellow” postage stamp was printed with a one-of-kind error. In 1996
it sold for a record $2.3 million. In 2010 it was again sold but the
price was not revealed.
   (SSFC, 5/23/10, p.A6)
1898Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, US Congress passed
the Private Mailing Card Act which allowed private publishers and
printers to produce postcards.
   (www.si.edu/archives/postcard/chronology.htm)
1900Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 16, US Post Office
issued its 1st books of postage stamps.
   (MC, 4/16/02)
1908Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 18, The 1st US postage
stamps in rolls were issued.
   (MC, 2/18/02)
1911Â Â Â Â Â Â The first US experimental
airmail flight took place on Long Island, a 3-mile journey between
Garden City Estates and Mineola.
   (SFC, 9/12/08, p.B5)
1915Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 21, Anthony Comstock
(b.1844), former US Postal Inspector and politician dedicated to
ideas of Victorian morality, died. The anti-porn campaigner had used
his position to seize 50 tons of books and 4 million pictures.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Comstock)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.44)
1915Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 14, Booker T.
Washington (b.1856), Black American educator, died in Tuskegee,
Alabama. The former slave later founded the Tuskegee Institute
(1881). Booker Taliaferro Washington later became the 1st black on a
US postage stamp. His autobiography "Up From Slavery" was listed in
1999 as the 3rd best work of non-fiction in the English language in
the 20th century by the Modern Library. In 2009 Robert J. Norrell
authored “Up From History: The Life of Booker T. Washington.”Â
   (AP, 5/5/97)(HN, 4/5/99)(SFC, 4/29/99, p.C5)(WSJ,
1/23/08, p.W10)
1918Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, The first US
airmail stamps, featuring a picture of an airplane, were introduced.
On some of the initial stamps the airplane was printed upside down;
the "inverted Jenny," as it came to be called, became a collector's
item. One sheet of 100 stamps got by inspectors. Four of the stamps
were stolen from a collector’s convention in 1955. In 2016 one of
the four surfaced at a New York auction house.
   (SSFC, 11/12/06, p.A2)(AP, 5/13/08)(SFC, 4/16/16,
p.A5)
1918Â Â Â Â Â Â May 15, The U.S. Post
Office and the U.S. Army began regularly scheduled airmail service
between Washington and New York through Philadelphia. Lieutenant
George L. Boyle, an inexperienced young army pilot, was chosen to
make the first flight from Washington. Even with a route map
stitched to his breeches, Boyle lost his way and flew south rather
than north. The second leg of the Washington--Philadelphia--New York
flight, however, took off and arrived in New York on
schedule--without the Washington mail. The distance of the route was
218 miles, and one round trip per day was made six days a week. Army
Air Service pilots flew the route until August 10, 1918, when the
Post Office Department took over the entire operation with its own
planes and pilots.
   (AP, 5/15/97)(HNPD, 6/15/99)(HNQ, 4/24/01)
1919Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 30, US postal workers
discovered 30 booby-trap bombs in the national mail system,
targeting several members of congress and other public figures.
Investigators later implicated a network of anarchists and radicals
who were rounded up and deported.
   (SFC, 5/1/09, p.B2)
1920Â Â Â Â Â Â In Germany a Weimar 5
pfennig postage stamp of this year doubled in cost the following
year. It jumped to 10 marks in 1922, 30 marks in January 1923, 1,000
marks in May and 800,000 marks in October. By the end of 1923
sending a letter cost 10 billion marks.
   (Econ, 6/16/12, p.64)
1921Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 22, The first US
transcontinental airmail flight took off from Mineola, NY, to SF,
Ca. By 1926 commercial airlines took over the flights and a year
later all airmail was carried under contract.
   (SFC, 9/12/08, p.B5)
1921-1944Â Â Â The Soviets allowed Tuva to call itself
independent as the Tuvan People’s Republic. Tannu Tuva stamps were
issued by Moscow in odds shapes and they became collector's items.
   (WSJ, 4/1/06, p.A5)(Econ, 11/7/15, p.46)
1922Â Â Â Â Â Â Britain decommissioned the
HMS Ascension and the island became a dependency of St. Helena.
Ascension Island issued its first postage stamps.
   (Econ, 12/18/10,
p.160)(www.britlink.org/ascension.html)
1923Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, Marcus Garvey was
sentenced to 5 years for using mail to defraud.
   (MC, 6/21/02)
1924Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, A regular
transcontinental airmail service formed between NYC and SF.
   (MC, 7/1/02)
1924Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 2, The 1st day of
transcontinental airmail service brought news to SF mailed from New
York after 34 hours and 45 minutes.
   (SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1927Â Â Â Â Â Â The first living person to
be honored on a U.S. postal stamp was pioneering pilot Charles
Lindbergh. A 10-cent stamp was issued, showing Lindbergh's airplane,
the Spirit of St. Louis, in which he had made his historic flight
from New York to Paris.
   (HNQ, 11/14/98)
1928Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 28, J.L. Rutledge,
Pacific Air Transport pilot, ran out of fuel and parachuted from his
plane near Orinda, Ca. The plane crashed nearby and he retrieved the
mail and delivered it to the Orinda post office.
   (SFC, 3/28/03, p.E8)
1937Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, 1st airmail letter
to circle the globe returned to New York.
   (SC, 5/25/02)
1939Â Â Â Â Â Â May 20, Regular
trans-Atlantic air mail service began as a Pan American Airways
plane, the Yankee Clipper, took off from Port Washington, N.Y.,
bound for Marseilles, France.
   (AP,
5/20/97)(www.airliner.net/pan-am-clipper-flying-boat/transatlantic-airline-service/)
1943Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5, Postmaster General
Frank C. Walker invented the Postal Zone System.
   (MC, 5/5/02)
1954Â Â Â Â Â Â The Alaska town of North
Pole began Operation Santa, a volunteer program to respond to
children’s letters sent to Santa Claus. The US Postal Service
dropped the program in 2009.  Â
   (SFC, 11/20/09, p.A9)
1957Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 13, Due to lack of
funds, Saturday mail delivery in US was temporarily halted.
   (MC, 4/13/02)
1957Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 15, Saturday mail
delivery was restored after Congress gave the PO $41 million.
   (MC, 4/15/02)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 11, Postmaster General
banned D.H. Lawrence's book, "Lady Chatterley's Lover." Charles
Rembar (d.2000 at 85) began a 7-year fight against obscenity laws
when he contested the US postmaster general’s ban on Lady
Chatterley’s Lover. In 1968 Rembar authored "The End of Obscenity."
In 1980 he authored a history of American law: "The Law of the
Land."
   (SFC, 10/28/00, p.A25)(SC, 6/11/02)
1963Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, The U.S. Post
Office inaugurated its five-digit ZIP codes. The Zoning Improvement
Plan was initially developed by Robert Aurand Moon (d.2001 at 83).
   (AP, 7/1/97)(HN, 7/1/98)(SFC, 4/16/01, p.A22)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â The US cut direct mail
service with Cuba. In late 2015 a deal was struck to re-establish
direct mail service.
   (SFC, 12/12/15, p.A2)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 10, The US Post Office
released a new stamp showing Texas pioneer Sam Houston with a rifle.
Its initial Dec 13 release was withheld due to the assassination of
Pres. Kennedy.
   (SSFC, 12/15/13, p.42)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, US Postmaster
General John A. Gronouski ordered postal inspectors’ observation
stations ripped out of the men’s rest rooms of some 5,000 US post
offices.
   (SSFC, 12/7/14, DB p.46)
1965Â Â Â Â Â Â May 24, Supreme Court
declared a federal law allowing the post office to intercept
communist propaganda as unconstitutional.
   (MC, 5/24/02)
1966Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, Lou Jacobs, US
clown (d.1992), was featured on a US postage stamp.
   (MC, 9/13/01)
1966Â Â Â Â Â Â Pres. Johnson named Lim
Poon Lee as postmaster of San Francisco. To date this was the
highest federally appointed position ever held by a Chinese
American.
   (SFC, 11/5/09, p.C3)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, The United States
Postal Savings System, signed into law by President William Howard
Taft and operated by the United States Post Office Department, went
out of service.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_System)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â A portrait of Walt Disney
was featured on a new US stamp.
   (SFC, 6/24/04, p.B3)
1970Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 18, The US Postal
Service was paralyzed by the first postal strike. A walkout of
letter carriers in Brooklyn and Manhattan set off a strike that
involved 210,000 of the nation’s 750,000 postal employees. Pres.
Nixon declared a state of national emergency and assigned military
units to NYC post offices.
   (HN, 3/18/98)(SFC, 10/4/02, p.A17)
1971Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, The US Post Office
Department was transformed into the US Postal Service as an
independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government
of the United States. The US government changed the Post Office to a
quasi-government body with a mandate to be financially
self-sustaining.
   (SFEC, 9/29/96,
C13)(http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmailus5.htm)(AP,
7/1/01)
1974Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 2, US 1st class
postage stamps rose from 8 cents to 10 cents.
   (www.akdart.com/postrate.html)
1976Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 9, James A. Farley
(b.1888), US Postmaster General (1932-1940), died.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Farley)
1977Â Â Â Â Â Â The US Mail service began
Express Mail in response to private competition.
   (SFC, 6/7/97, p.A6)
1977Â Â Â Â Â Â San Francisco Postmaster
Lim Poon Lee (d.2002) established a post office at 867 Stockton St.,
in Chinatown. In 2009 US Congress voted to name the office in honor
of Lee.
   (SFC, 11/5/09, p.C2)
1978Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 1, Harriet Tubman
became the 1st black woman honored on a US postage stamp.
  Â
(http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2002/02/daily-02-01-2002.shtml)
1978Â Â Â Â Â Â May 29, The US Postal
Service issued the first alphabet stamp, the A stamp, when the
first-class rate went from 13 to 15 cents, after being 13¢ for 3
years. The series ended with the H stamp in 1999 with rates up to 33
cents.
   (SFC, 4/20/00,
p.A7)(http://alphabetilately.com/G.html)(www.akdart.com/postrate.html)
1981Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, Postage rates went
from 15 cents an ounce to 18 cents an ounce.
   (HN, 3/22/97)
1986Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Postal employee
Patrick Henry Sherrill (44) went on a deadly rampage at a post
office in Edmond, Okla., shooting 14 fellow workers to death before
killing himself. This incident is credited with inspiring the
American phrase "going postal".
   (WSJ, 8/7/97, p.A12)(AP,
8/20/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Sherrill)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Marvin Runyon (d.2004),
former auto executive, took over as head of the US Postal Service
and served until 1998. He trimmed 23,000 management jobs and added
letter carriers to improve service.
   (SFC, 5/4/04, p.B7)
1995Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 3, The US Postal
Service raised the price of a first-class stamp to 32 cents.
   (AP, 1/3/05)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 3, A new 32-cent
postage stamp in honor of John Muir was to be issued at the
Martinez, Ca. post office.
   (SFC, 1/8/98, p.A19)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 30, The US Post Office
began selling a 40-cent breast cancer stamp. Eight cents from every
stamp will go to breast cancer research sponsored by the NIH and the
Dept. of Defense.
   (SFC, 5/9/98, p.A1,14)(SFC, 7/30/98, p.A1)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Walt Disney’s Snow White
was featured on a new US stamp.
   (SFC, 6/24/04, p.B3)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 20, The Malcolm X
postage stamp, the 22nd in the Black heritage series, went on sale.
   (SFC, 1/21/99, p.A3)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â The US Postal Service
issued a 33 cent stamp in honor of writer Ayn Rand.
   (www.usps.com/images/stamps/99/ayn_rand.htm)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, In Oregon ballots
were counted in the nation’s first regular primary election
conducted by mail. Estimated response was 47%.
   (SFC, 5/17/00, p.A8)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 1, The US issued a 34
cent stamp featuring Arabic calligraphy that says “Eid Mubarek,” a
greeting used to celebrate the 2 holiest Islamic holidays, Aid
al-Fitr for the end of Ramadan fasting, and Eid al-Adha for the end
of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
   (SFC, 11/30/01, p.A8)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 21, Thomas L. Morris
Jr. (55), a DC postal worker diagnosed with the deadly inhalation
form of anthrax, died. Officials began testing thousands of postal
employees.
   (SFC, 10/23/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/24/01, p.A1)(AP,
10/22/06)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22, DC postal worker,
Joseph P. Curseen (47), died from anthrax. .
   (SFC, 10/23/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/24/01, p.A1)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 23, Traces of anthrax
were found at an off-site facility that handled mail for the White
House.
   (SFC, 10/24/01, p.A1)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 22, Bill Maudlin
(b.1921), WW-II era cartoonist, died in Newport Beach, Ca. In 1945
he won a Pulitzer Prize for his war cartoons and authored "Up
Front," a collection of cartoons and an essay on war. A 2nd Pulitzer
followed in 1958. He was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame on
May 19, 1991. In 2008 Todd DePastino authored “Bill Maudlin: A Life
Up Front.” On March 31, 2010, the US Post Office released a
first-class denomination ($.44) postage stamp in Mauldin's honor
depicting him with WWII characters Willie & Joe.
   (SFC, 1/23/03, p.A2)(WS, 2/22/08,
p.W6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mauldin)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 24, A new Cesar Chavez
stamp was issued by the US postal service.
   (SFC, 4/25/03, A27)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 27, A new US stamp
dedicated to Theodore Geisel (d.1991), creator of Dr. Seuss, was
introduced at the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden in
Springfield, Mass.
   (SFC, 10/16/03, p.E13)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, The US Postal
Service unveiled a new John Wayne commemorative postage stamp for
its annual "Legends of Hollywood" issue at a private fund-raiser.
Previous honorees in the "Legends of Hollywood" series including
Marilyn Monroe (1995), James Dean (1996), Humphrey Bogart (1997),
Alfred Hitchcock (1998), James Cagney (1999), Edward G.
Robinson (2000), Lucille Ball (2001), Cary Grant (2002)
and Audrey Hepburn (2003).
   (AP, 4/5/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 23, The US issued 4
new 1st class stamps, part of a series featuring Disney themes. This
set was titled “The Art of Disney.”
   (SFC, 6/24/04, p.B3)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 30, A new Austrian
postage stamp featuring a likeness of California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger went on sale on his birthday.
   (AP, 7/30/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 1, The U.S. Postal
Service canceled a brief experiment that allowed ordinary people to
make postage stamps using images of their dogs, babies and even, it
turned out, outlaws such as the Unabomber.
   (AP, 10/4/04)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, Ceremonies were
scheduled for a first-day-of-issue stamp commemorating Pres. Ronald
Reagan (1911-2004).
   (SFC, 10/7/04, p.B3)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 25, Hattie McDaniel,
the first black actress to win an Academy Award, was honored with a
U.S. Postal Service commemorative stamp. McDaniel became the 29th
person honored in the Postal Service's long-running Black Heritage
stamp series.
   (AP, 1/26/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â May 3, The US Postal
Service said it wants to raise the price of a first-class stamp by 3
cents to 42 cents, and proposed a "forever" stamp that people could
use as hedge against future rate increases.
   (AP, 5/3/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â May 16, The US Postal
Service approved a one-year trial that allows businesses to purchase
custom postage from private companies that contract with the Postal
Service.
   (SFC, 6/1/06, p.A1)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 20, The US released
new postage stamps featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman,
Supergirl and a half dozen other superheroes.
   (AP, 7/20/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 20, The US Postal
Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) became effective. It
required the USPS to prepay a large share of future retirees' health
benefits, a burden imposed on no other federal agency.
   (https://tinyurl.com/y2c9gesv)(Econ., 8/8/20,
p.21)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 10, The US Postal
Service honored Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), the First Lady of Song,
with her own postage stamp.
   (AP, 1/10/07)(SFC, 1/10/07, p.E8)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 12, The new US
“forever” postage stamp was scheduled to go on sale. The cost for
first class mail was set to rise to 41 cents on May 14.
   (SFC, 4/11/07, p.A3)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, The cost of
first-class US letters went up 2 cents to 41 cents.
   (AP, 5/14/07)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 8, Britain's Royal
Mail issued a set of stamps commemorating James Bond to mark 100
years since the birth of his creator, Ian Fleming.
   (AP, 1/8/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â May 12, The US Postal
Service increased first-class postage a penny to 42 cents.
   (SSFC, 5/11/08, p.A4)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 16, The US Postal
Service released a series of stamps honoring black cinema.
   (SFC, 7/16/08, p.E3)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, The US postal
service released 4 new 42-cent stamps in Springfield, Ill.,
highlighting the personal history of Abraham Lincoln.
   (SFC, 2/9/09, p.A6)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 10, The US Postal
Service announced that the price of a first-class stamp will rise to
44 cents on May 11. The Postal Service said it lost $2.8 billion
last year and, unless the economy turns around, is headed toward
much larger losses this year.
   (AP, 2/10/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 17, In Britain the
Communication Workers Union called for a national walkout following
a rolling program of local postal strikes that began in July. The
strikes over higher pay and job security have already caused a
backlog of 20 million letters and parcels, about a quarter of the
Royal Mail's daily volume.
   (AP, 9/17/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 8, Britain's postal
workers agreed to launch a nationwide strike after months of rolling
regional strikes over pay and job security. The Communication
Workers Union said that 76% of more than 80,000 union members voted
in favor of the action. The union was required to give seven days
notice before any strike.
   (AP, 10/8/09)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 23, The Swedish 1885
“Treskilling Yellow” postage stamp retained its title as the world’s
most expensive stamp following an auction in Geneva. In 1996 it had
sold for a record $2.3 million. The price this year was not
revealed.
   (SSFC, 5/23/10, p.A6)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 2, The US Postal
Service issued a new 44 cent stamp recognizing Mother Teresa
(1910-1997) for her humanitarian work.
   (SFC, 9/3/10, p.A4)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 29, In Puerto Rico 7
US Postal Service workers were indicted on charges they shipped
thousands of parcels of heroin, cocaine and marijuana through the
mail.
   (AP, 9/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 28, The US Postal
Service unveiled its first-class commemorative stamps for 2011. All
were marked with the word "forever" instead of the current rate of
44 cents.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, Cuba suspended
indefinitely all mail service to the United States, extending a ban
announced in November and expanding it to cover letters as well as
packages. Deliveries were suspended in November following a US
decision to increase security measures following last year's failed
terror threat involving packages mailed from Yemen.
   (AP, 1/22/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 5, The Pacific nation
of Niue has printed unusual commemorative stamps for Britain's royal
wedding: an image of Prince William and Kate Middleton with
perforations that split the couple down the middle.
   (AP, 4/5/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 3, In Canada picket
lines went at Canada Post mail processing plant in Winnipeg as part
of a limited rotating strike around the country.
   (Reuters, 6/3/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 14, Canada Post locked
out all its employees, saying more than a week of rotating strikes
by unionized letter carriers and other postal workers had cost it
too much money.
   (Reuters, 6/15/11)(Econ, 7/2/11, p.30)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 26, Canada’s Senate
endorsed back-to-work legislation ending the labor dispute that shut
down the postal service.
   (Reuters, 6/26/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 5, The US Postal
Service posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in its third quarter and
warned again it would default on payments to the federal government
if Congress did not step in. USPS cut work hours during the quarter
by 3.1 percent compared to the previous year, when quarterly net
losses were $3.5 billion.
   (Reuters, 8/5/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 26, The US Postal
Service abandoned a long-standing rule that stamps cannot feature
people still living and asked the public for suggestions.
   (SFC, 9/27/11, p.A8)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 18, The cash-strapped
U.S. Postal Service announced a one-cent increase in the cost of
mailing a letter, starting in January.
   (Reuters, 10/18/11)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 13, Sri Lanka reacted
furiously to a spate of "personalized" foreign postage stamps
bearing the image of slain Tamil Tiger rebel supremo Velupillai
Prabhakaran.
   (AFP, 1/13/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 27, British Royal Mail
announced that stamp prices will shoot up to record highs of 60p for
first class and 50p for second class effective April 30.
   (AFP, 3/27/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 9, The US Postal
Service reported losses of $57 million per day in the last quarter
and warned it will miss another payment due to the US Treasury. A
week earlier it defaulted on a payment for future retiree health
benefits.
   (SFC, 8/10/12, p.A5)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 1, The US Postal
Service defaulted on a $5.6 billion payment, the 2nd time it has
missed a deadline this year. It expected operating losses of $15
billion for the fiscal year ending Sep 30.
   (SFC, 10/2/12, p.A4)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 15, The struggling US
Postal Service reported an annual loss of a record $15.9 billion and
forecast more red ink in 2013. Much of the red ink in 2012 was due
to mounting mandatory costs for future retiree health benefits,
which made up $11.1 billion of the losses.
   (AP, 11/15/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â The Vatican's Philatelic
and Numismatic Office, which sells commemorative coins and stamps
featuring popes, saints and the like, began offering a special €20
($26) stamp and certificate package to help offset a
recession-induced drop in corporate sponsors for the restoration of
the colonnade surrounding St. Peter’s Square.
   (AP, 11/27/12)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 6, The financially
struggling US Postal Service said it will stop delivering mail on
Saturdays, beginnin g in August, but continue to disburse packages
six days a week.
   (AP, 2/6/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 20, The US Congress
foiled the financially beleaguered Postal Service's plan to end
Saturday delivery of first-class mail when it passed legislation
requiring six-day delivery.
   (Reuters, 3/21/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 16, A letter was
intercepted in Washington DC, postmarked from Memphis and mailed to
Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker's office. It contained the
toxic substance ricin, forcing the temporary closure of a Senate
post office and prompting a federal investigation.
   (SFC, 4/18/13, p.A9)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 17, FBI agents in
Corinth, Ten., arrested Paul Kevin Curtis (45). He was accused of
mailing letters containing ricin to Pres. Obama and Sen. Roger
Wicker (R-Mis). Curtis had claimed to have uncovered a conspiracy
while working at a local hospital from 1998-2000, when he discovered
a refrigerator full of dismembered body parts and organs in a
morgue.
   (SFC, 4/18/13, p.A9)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, Paul Kevin Curtis,
the Mississippi man charged with sending poisoned letters to
President Barack Obama, a US senator and a state judge, was released
from jail. The reason for the release wasn't immediately clear.
   (AP, 4/24/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, In Washington
state two letters containing the deadly poison ricin were
intercepted in Spokane.
   (SSFC, 5/19/13, p.A7)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 7, In Texas Shannon
Richardson (35), a pregnant Texas actress, was arrested and charged
with orchestrating a ricin letter scheme. She had told FBI agents
that her husband had sent ricin-tainted letters to President Barack
Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. On Dec 10 she pleaded
guilty in a deal to cap her prison time at 18 years.
   (AP, 6/7/13)(SFC, 12/11/13, p.A8)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, Britain's
government officially launched plans to privatize more than half of
Royal Mail, saying an initial sale of shares in the state-run postal
service would occur within weeks.
   (AFP, 9/12/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 16, The United States
and Cuba sat down in Havana for a second round of talks on
re-establishing direct mail services between the two countries after
a 50-year ban.
   (Reuters, 9/16/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 11, Shares in
newly-privatized Royal Mail soared on their stock market debut,
bolstering criticism that the company — which traces its
five-century history back to King Henry VIII — was undervalued by
the British government.
   (AP, 10/11/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, The US Postal Service
unveiled plans to open 84 post offices in Staples stores around the
country, but they would not be staffed by USPS union members.
   (SFC, 12/3/13, p.D5)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, Canada's postal
service said it will phase out door-to-door mail delivery in
response to falling mail volumes and big financial losses. Canadians
will instead have to collect their mail from corner community
mailboxes that are to be set up in cities nationwide.
   (AFP, 12/11/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 24, US postal
regulators approved a temporary two-year increase of 3 cents for the
first class stamp. The 49 cent rate will be effective as of Jan 26,
2014.
   (SFC, 12/25/13, p.A7)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 26, The cost of a US
first-class stamp rose 3 cents to 49 cents.
   (SFC, 1/27/14, p.A4)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 11, South Africa
issued a black-and-white commemorative stamp to celebrate the life
and legacy of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela who died last year.
   (AFP, 2/11/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 25, Royal Mail,
Britain's main postal operator, said it plans to axe 1,600 jobs
under a fresh cost-cutting program, six months after its
controversial part-privatization by the government.
   (AFP, 3/25/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, Germany’s Deutsche
Post said it is no longer accepting letters bound for Crimea after
its Ukrainian counterpart told the Geneva-based Universal Postal
Union (UPU) that delivery to the region was no longer guaranteed.
   (Reuters, 4/3/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 24, US postal workers
in cities large and small rallied against a US Postal service pilot
program to open counters in Staples stores.
   (SFC, 4/25/14, p.A6)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â May 22, US politicians,
federal officials and gay activists celebrated the first day issue
of a US Postal Service stamp in honor of Harvey Milk, on what would
have been his 84th birthday.
   (SFC, 5/23/14, p.A1)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 10, The US Postal
Service said it has been hacked potentially compromising sensitive
information on its employees, which numbered over 800,000 workers.
   (SFC, 11/11/14, p.A6)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 14, The US Postal
Service named Megan Brennan as its first female postmaster general.
She will succeed Patrick Donohue, who will retire in February.
   (SFC, 11/15/14, p.A6)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â India’s Tamil Nadu state
launched a postcard program as a way of tracking the education of
some of the more than 10 million children who are estimated to
migrate with their families to different parts of India every year.
   (Reuters, 7/20/16)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 13, The US Postal
Service reported a $5.1 billion loss for the just-completed 2015
fiscal cycle, a slight improvement over last year.
   (AP, 11/13/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 11, The US and Cuba
announced they have struck a deal to re-established direct mail
service, which was cut in 1963.
   (SFC, 12/12/15, p.A2)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 10, In Nevada a drone
made by Flirtey successfully delivered a package to a residential
location in Hawthorne in what was reportedly the first fully
autonomous urban drone delivery in the US.
   (AP, 3/26/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 1, Dutch prosecutors
raided a string of locations and seized cash and hundreds of
thousands of fraudulent letters in an investigation into worldwide
mail scams. The next day US law enforcement authorities said the
scams had defrauded "elderly and vulnerable" Americans out of tens
of millions of dollars.
   (AP, 6/2/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 19, British postal
workers began what could become the longest strike in the Post
Office's 300-year history as part of a wave of industrial action
that is also threatening Christmas travel chaos.
   (AFP, 12/19/16)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 27, The late
Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was commemorated with a
national stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth on
September 11, as part of a series of stamps marking presidents'
100th birthdays.
   (AFP, 10/27/17)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 20, The US Postal
Service unveiled a new Year of the Dog stamp to help celebrate the
Lunar New Year.
   (AP, 2/20/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â May 19, American pop
artist Robert Indiana (89), born in Indiana as Robert Clark, died at
his island home off the coast of Maine. His "LOVE" print, first
created for the Museum of Modern Art's Christmas card in 1965, was
the basis for his 1970 Love sculpture and the widely distributed
1973 United States Postal Service "LOVE" stamp.
   (SFC, 5/23/18, p.D6)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 19, The Palestinians
said Israel has withheld delivery of post shipments to the
Palestinian territories through its national postal service since
2010. In recent days the Palestinian postal staff in Jericho has
been sorting through tons of undelivered mail in a room packed with
letters, boxes and even a wheelchair. The one-time release of the
ten and a half tons of mail was a "gesture".
   (AP, 8/19/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 18, China criticized
Washington's decision to leave the UN treaty that regulates
international postage. President Donald Trump has said the
144-year-old Universal Postal Union (UPU) puts US businesses at a
disadvantage and is used by shippers of the narcotic fentanyl to the
US from China.
   (AP, 10/18/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22, Canada Post
workers went on a rotating strike, affecting mail deliveries in four
cities after nearly one year of stalled contract negotiations.
   (AFP, 10/22/18)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 1, Philippine customs
officials opened nicely gift-wrapped boxes of cookies and oatmeal
flown in all the way from Poland and found 757 of live tarantulas at
a mail exchange center near Manila's international airport. A
Filipino man was later arrested when he tried to claim the venomous
spiders.
   (AP, 4/3/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 25, The UN agency
coordinating postal systems worldwide reached a compromise to reform
its fee structure, proposed by the United States, that would avert
the Trump administration leaving the global network.
   (Reuters, 9/25/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 13, Britain's
Communication Workers Union said that postal company Royal Mail had
won a high court injunction to block potential strikes by the union.
   (Reuters, 11/13/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Sierra Leone issued 1,566
different postage stamps this year with the help of Stamperija, a
Lithuania-based outfit that designs and prints stamps.
   (Econ., 8/22/20, p.40)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, The United Arab
Emirates restored mail services to Qatar, frozen for more than two
years amid a diplomatic rift, after a regional meeting attended by
both Gulf states and the United Nations’ postal agency.
   (Bloomberg, 2/10/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 28, Poland's
parliament passed a law early today allowing postal voting for
senior citizens and those in quarantine or self-isolating as the
government looks to press ahead with May presidential elections
which opposition parties want postponed.
   (Reuters, 3/28/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 3, The US Postal
Service announced a new series of stamps in honor of San Francisco
sculptor and arts education advocate Ruth Asawa (1926-2013).
   (SFC, 4/8/20, p.E1)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â May 8, The US Postal
Service said it lost $4.5 billion in the quarter ending in March,
more than double its loss over the same period last year, and warned
COVID-19 could severely hurt its finances over the next 18 months.
   (Reuters, 5/8/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 15, It was reported
that US Mail deliveries could be delayed by a day or more under
cost-cutting efforts being imposed by the new postmaster general.
The plan eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal
workers and says employees must adopt a "different mindset” to
ensure the Postal Service’s survival during the coronavirus
pandemic.
   (AP, 7/15/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 7, US Postmaster
General Louis DeJoy said the USPS faces a "dire" financial position
even as it posted a slightly narrower third-quarter loss amid
soaring package demand during the coronavirus pandemic.
   (Reuters, 8/7/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, New Jersey Gov.
Phil Murphy said NJ will mail a ballot to every voter in the state
for November's elections, as well as hold in-person voting amid the
coronavirus pandemic.
   (Reuters, 8/14/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, The 300,000-member
National Association of Letter Carriers said that the union's
executive council had endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president,
warning "the very survival" of the US Postal Service is at stake.
   (Reuters, 8/14/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 16, More than 100
demonstrators converged outside the North Carolina mansion of
postmaster general Louis DeJoy, protesting the cutbacks, delays and
other changes to the USPS that have created fears for mail-in voting
ahead of the November presidential election.
   (AP, 8/17/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 17, President Donald
Trump denied trying to undermine the Postal Service's ability to
handle a flood of mail-in ballots ahead of the November US election,
as Democrats prepared to move against changes his administration has
set in motion.
   (AP, 8/17/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 18, Several Democratic
state attorneys general said they will announce legal action against
President Donald Trump's administration over Postal Service changes
that may affect mail-in voting in the November US presidential
election.
   (Reuters, 8/18/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 18, Postmaster General
Louis DeJoy said that he would suspend cost-cutting measures and
operational changes at the Postal Service until after the November
election.
   (NY Times, 8/19/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, It was reported
that at least 4,800 chicks shipped to Maine farmers through the US
Postal Service have arrived dead in recent weeks after rapid cuts
hit the federal mail carrier's operations.
   (AP, 8/20/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 21, US Postmaster
General Louis DeJoy told lawmakers that mail-in ballots in the Nov.
3 election would be delivered on time, despite concerns that
cost-cutting measures could result in widespread delays and millions
of uncounted ballots. DeJoy earlier this week suspended all mail
service changes until after the election, but said today he did not
plan on returning decommissioned sorting machines to service before
Nov. 3. The Postal Service had planned to remove 671 mail sorting
machines nationwide, including 502 delivery barcode sorting machines
capable of processing 35,000 pieces of mail per hour, by Sept. 30.
As of Aug. 16 it had already decommissioned 95% of its target.
   (Reuters, 8/21/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 21, Six states led by
Pennsylvania sued the US Postal Service and the new postmaster
general, saying service changes in recent weeks have harmed the
ability of states to conduct free and fair elections.
   (Reuters, 8/21/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 22, The US House
passed legislation that would provide $25 billion to the United
States Postal Service, while also banning any operational changes to
the agency like the removal of mail-sorting machines and collection
boxes and reversing already-enacted measures. It was unlikely the
bill will pass the Republican-controlled Senate.
   (The Week, 8/23/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 4, Mail balloting in
the presidential election began as North Carolina started sending
out more than 600,000 ballots to voters — responding to a massive
spike in requests that has played out across the country as voters
look for a safer way to cast ballots during the pandemic.
   (AP, 9/4/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 17, A US judge blocked
controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail
nationwide.
   (SFC, 9/18/20, p.A7)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 18, A federal judge in
Nevada dismissed a lawsuit by President Donald Trump's re-election
campaign that sought to block the state from sending mail-in ballots
to every registered voter, a legal victory for Democrats ahead of
November's election. The order was made public on Sept. 21.
   (Reuters, 9/21/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 21, A federal judge in
New York ordered the Postal Service to reverse operational changes
that have slowed mail delivery in recent months and to prioritize
election mail, the latest legal rebuke to Louis DeJoy’s management
of the agency.
   (NY Times, 9/21/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 24, The US Attorney's
Office in the Middle District of Pennsylvania said that nine ballots
had been found in a dumpster next to the elections building with
seven cast for Trump and the other two resealed inside their
envelopes. A day later Luzerne County Manager said a temporary
independent contractor, who was assigned to sort mail at the
elections bureau "incorrectly discarded into the office trash UMOVA
ballots," which is an acronym for ballots from military and overseas
voters.
   (ABC News, 9/25/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 12, It was reported
that Nicholas Beauchene (26), a US postal worker in New Jersey, has
been arrested after he threw almost 2,000 pieces of mail, including
election ballots, in dumpsters. Some 1,875 pieces of mail were
recovered, including 600 first-class items and 99 ballots for
November's election.
   (AP, 10/12/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 14, The US Postal
Service agreed to reverse changes that slowed mail service
nationwide, settling a lawsuit filed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock
during a pandemic that is expected to force many more people to vote
by mail.
   (AP, 10/14/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 23, The US Postal
Service (USPS) told a US judge it has returned 137 mail processing
machines to service since August and approved thousands of daily
extra delivery trips this month as it works to deliver millions of
ballots.
   (Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 23, The Austrian Post
said it has united two aspects of the coronavirus pandemic in a
stamp printed on toilet paper that people can also, at a push, use
for social distancing. The 2.75 euro "corona stamp" comes in sheets
10 cm wide.
   (Reuters, 10/23/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 26, The US Department
of Justice announced that DeShawn Bojgere (30), a former US Postal
Service worker in Kentucky, has been charged "with the delay or
destruction of mail." He was accused of throwing away
"approximately" 111 absentee ballots along with other mail in a
construction dumpster in early to mid-October.
   (AP, 10/27/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 5, The US Postal
Service (USPS) said about 1,700 ballots had been identified in
Pennsylvania at processing facilities during two sweeps today and
were being delivered to election officials.
   (Reuters, 11/5/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 5, The Washington Post
reported that more than 150,000 ballots were caught in US Postal
Service processing facilities and not delivered by Election Day. As
a result, some ballots could arrive after their states’ deadlines.
   (NY Times, 11/6/20)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 23, The US Postal
Service (USPS) outlined a proposed 10-year strategic plan that would
slow current first-class delivery standards and raise some prices to
stem $160 billion in forecasted red ink over the next decade.
   (Reuters, 3/23/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 23, It was reported
that Judges have quashed the convictions of 39 former postmasters
after the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice.
   (BBC, 4/23/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, Spain's
state-owned Correos Espana issued a set of four stamps in different
skin-colored tones on the anniversary of George Floyd's death in
Minnesota. The "Equality Stamps" stirred backlash as they were
priced by skin color with the darker stamps priced lower than the
lighter ones.
   (SFC, 5/29/21, p.A3)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, Yogi Berra became
the first player in nine years to appear on a USPS stamp.
   (NY Times, 7/2/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 25, It was reported
that the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a UN agency in charge of the
world's postal policies, has voted to block the use of UK stamps
from the Chagos Islands. All post to and from the remote archipelago
must now bear stamps from Mauritius.
   (BBC, 8/25/21)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Postage
End of file