For completeness - sending children through the mail happened more than a century ago - the one was in 1915.
I only mention this because the graphic showing USPS next to delivery services that didn’t even exist back then is misleading.
Explanation:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/
One of the most overlooked, yet most significant innovations of the early 20th century might be the Post Office’s decision to start shipping large parcels and packages through the mail. While private delivery companies flourished during the 19th century, the Parcel Post dramatically expanded the reach of mail-order companies to America’s many rural communities, as well as the demand for their products. When the Post Office’s Parcel Post officially began on January 1, 1913, the new service suddenly allowed millions of Americans great access to all kinds of goods and services. But almost immediately, it had some unintended consequences as some parents tried to send their children through the mail.
“Postage was cheaper than a train ticket,” Lynch says.
Finally, on June 14, 1913, several newspapers including the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times all ran stories stating the the postmaster had officially decreed that children could no longer be sent through the mail.
I was full on expecting a baby to have ended up in one of those modern automated processing machines but this make a bit more sense I suppose
I dont know what’s worse a parent losing their kid down the automatic mail belt or choosing to send their kid via mail to save a few pennies
save a few pennies
Parcels tend to be an order of magnitude cheaper than transporting a person via trains, car/carriage etc. If you were poor, sending the kid via parcel might have been the only option to get them to a place. Though obviously it’s a piss-poor option, great way to kill, cripple or traumatize your child for life. Travelling via parcel might be doable for the 2-3 days a parcel might take today, but in those days parcels weren’t delivered that fast. Imagine being stuck in a dark, small box for 2 weeks.
To be fair, pennies were worth a lot more in 1913.
In 1913, 1 penny was worth 0.01 1913 dollars.
Today, 1 penny is only worth 0.01 2026 dollars, so you can see it’s quite a difference.
Good God I didn’t even realize that it would’ve easily taken more than a day to ship the child, that’s horrifying
I don’t understand. That seems impossible. The kid is shipped with several liters of water inside the box? And they just poop and pee in there?? And what kid would agree to that? It makes no sense. I feel like there must be more to this story.
It’s the
19thearly 20th century, I don’t think kids usually got a choice.20th
You can still send live baby chicks.
And bees!
Don’t want someone to mail you? Return to Sender with bees, no more junk mail.
Use antrax to make sure nobody else get junk ever again.
7 is nothing compared to the 200,000 shipped on trains to the Midwest as “farm labor” on the Orphan Trains.
Life made more sense in the old days. If I package myself right, and want to send myself somewhere, why shouldn’t I be able to?
while one can no longer USPS mail a babby one can still USPS mail a potato
From what I recall, if you can get a stamp and an address on it, it can go
Let me look up the rules because I know very strangely shaped objects have to be delivered somehow. I think I remember a thing with coconuts
Looked it up, straight from the horse’s mouth:
https://facts.usps.com/delivering-coconuts/
“Coconuts and potatoes can be mailed without a box. Simply write the destination and return addressees on your piece of produce and have it weighed for appropriate postage. USPS will ship it as-is.”What’s the difference?
I don’t eat potatoes
They both grow weirdly if you keep them in the dark for too long. So, none.
But we couldn’t mail a relative’s cellphone across the country by next day air after they forgot it here. Found that one out today. The sunchokes to a friend were fine, though.
The lithium ion battery in the cell phone is not allowed to be unattended in the aircraft hold because it’s a fire hazard.
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