America’s Founding Fathers had the foresight to recognize that an efficient postal service would be an essential tool of democracy. Odds are they didn’t envision mailboxes stuffed with grocery ads, prescription medicines and AARP The Magazine.
On Saturday, the United States Postal Service will mark 250 years of serving a mission unthwarted by rain, sleet, snow or gloom of night. A key mechanism of an informed citizenry, a building block of U.S. independence and a storied part of American culture, the agency has faithfully delivered letters nationwide, regardless of geographic distance, all for the price of a stamp — even as its challenges to do so without delay or a deficit have grown.
“The post office was created a year before the Declaration of Independence and has been there at every step along the American journey,” said Steve Kochersperger, the agency’s postal historian. “It goes everywhere Americans have gone and keeps us united.”
