Mobile post office

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mobile post offices deliver mail and other postal services through specially-equipped vehicles, such as trucks and trains.

The United Kingdom pioneered the modern use of what it calls the travelling Post Office (TPO), a railway service that operated for the first time in 1838.[1][2]


Interior of a mobile office of the Great Northern Railway
Interior of a mobile office of the Great Northern Railway

In the United States, the most prominent mobile post offices are railway post offices. For about 30 years, ending in the 1920s, a few cities had streetcar officess. In addition, the U.S. runs a Boat Railway Post Offices. The boat services were first available for inland waterways, beginning in 1857, and subsequently ocean routes to Puerto Rico, Canal Zone, and from Seattle to Alaska. The rail and boat offices were discontinued in 1977 and 1978, respectively.

Canadian began its railroad mail services in 1859.[3]

In Israel, mobile post offices began in 1955 as part of the country's postal services for the Negev.

A mobile postal truck serving Chinese University of Hong Kong.
A mobile postal truck serving Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In China, mobile postal trucks serve two routes for Hongkong Post.

Following an earthquake in 2005, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) donated monies to Pakistan for a mobile postal office truck.[4]

According to the UPU database, other countries with mobile post offices include: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Luxemborg, Madagascar, Moldova, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovokia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.[5]

In 1950, the Mobile Post Office Society was established as a philatelic organization interested in the postmarks and activities of mobile offices, primarily in the U.S.

In popular culture, the mobile post office may be best known for the Great Train Robbery (1963).

[edit] Postage stamps

Israel's mobile post office truck on a 1959 stamp.
Israel's mobile post office truck on a 1959 stamp.

Countries have issued postage stamps to recognize mobile postal services. For instance, in 1913, the U.S. issued parcel post stamps that portray a mail train as well as an employee of a railway post office. In 1974, Zambia issued a series of 4 stamps as commemoratives for the centenary of the Universal Postal Union.[6] Israel issued a stamp in 1959 picturing its red mobile post truck, pictured.

[edit] References

  • Bergman, Edwin B. (1980) 29 Years to Oblivion, The Last Years of Railway Mail Service in the United States, Mobile Post Office Society, Omaha, Nebraska. Available from http://www.eskimo.com/~rkunz/mposhome.html Mobile Post Office Society. Members receive literature discounts.
  • Johnson, Peter. (1995) Mail by Rail - The History of the TPO & Post Office Railway, Ian Allan Publishing, London. ISBN 0 7110 2385 9
  • Wilking, Clarence. (1985) The Railway Mail Service, Railway Mail Service Library, Boyce, Virginia. On boats and streetcars, available as an MS Word file at [1].
  1. ^ Johnson 1995.
  2. ^ White p.472
  3. ^ White, p 473
  4. ^ Pakistan Post news on its mobile office
  5. ^ UPU database by country], report created to list mobile post offices on 02-14-2008.
  6. ^ Ebay auction view.

[edit] External links

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