Mail Facts

William Coltharp needed brick for the new Bank of Vernal. Wagon freight into remote Utah cost twice as much as parcel post. So in 1916 he had the post office deliver the brick instead. It went out in 50-pound packages, ten bricks at a time. About 15,000 bricks later, the Postal Service capped mail shipments at 200 pounds a day. The bank still stands, brick facade and all.

Austria was the first country to use postcards.

The United States Postal Service handles 44% of the world's mail volume, making it the largest postal service on Earth.

Each year, Canada Post receives a million letters addressed to "Santa Claus, The North Pole, H0H 0H0". They reply to every one.

In 1959, the USPS attempted to deliver mail via cruise missile and successfully shipped 3,000 pieces of mail from Virginia to Florida in 22 minutes.

In 1964, an Australian man successfully posted himself in a crate from London to Perth via air freight, which took a total of three days.

The Pony Express lasted only 18 months before the telegraph replaced it in 1861. But volunteers never let it end. Every June, more than 750 riders saddle up for the Pony Express Re-Ride, carrying real, postmarked mail 1,966 miles across eight states from Missouri to California in ten days, day and night. Riders still gallop the trail, passing the mail pouch horse to horse, just like 1860.