As recently as last spring, the United States Postal Service lobbied Congress to cut Saturday delivery from its services. That didn’t go over so well. Not only are we still getting letters, bills and post cards on Saturday, we will soon see mail trucks tootling around delivering packages from Amazon on Sundays.
There was a time however, when post offices were open on Sundays and they were hopping with activity.
A hundred years ago, Sundays were reserved for church attendance, as businesses, restaurants and taverns were closed. Yet, the post offices were still open. Does that surprise you? Most commerce was conducted through the mail service in those days, so mail had to be transported seven days a week to keep the economy humming along.
From a social standpoint, post offices were also the Sunday meeting place. A sort of ‘happy hour’ started when the mail arrived at the local post office and often it lasted long into the evening.
As with so many fun things in life, post offices were also a source of controversy.
Religious groups were opposed to Sunday post office hours. They wanted to keep their parishioners honoring the day of rest. Unfortunately for these groups, the First Amendment protected Sunday mail delivery. Closing a post office on Sunday, it was argued, would give preference to Christians over the other religions that recognize Saturday as the Holy Day.
Finally, in 1912, religious groups found an unlikely ally: Labor groups. Together, the two joined forces, successfully lobbying to end Sunday mail service.
Now it is back. Today, Amazon Prime members can receive packages on Sundays. Tomorrow, perhaps the rest of us can too. Either way, Intuiship will keep you up to date with all the packaging policies and services that keep your little piece of the economy humming along. That gives you the reassurance that you have the most cost-effective and reliable shipping service at the best price.