Featuring Research Volunteer Contributions

Customers & Commerce

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Two-slot postage stamp vending machine

Complex economic, social, and political forces drive relationships between individuals, businesses, and the postal system. Every U.S. resident receives mail service through the public obligation of universal service. By providing mail delivery to every address, the postal system connects people, the marketplace, and the government. Access to the public through local post offices has allowed the federal government to offer customer services that have no connection with postal business. While fulfilling these services and obligations, the system must also remain economically viable.

The volume of mail generated by businesses today largely sustains the U.S. Postal Service. Businesses use the mail to find customers, to deliver goods to consumers, and to maintain supplies and capital. In addition to companies that build their assets by creating mail, other firms have found a market by catering to mailing needs. From envelope manufacturing to supplying specialty equipment such as stamp vending machines, the postal system has provided the impetus for many commercial ventures.

Lynn Heidelbaugh, National Postal Museum

Colonel George Washington's postage account

All financial transactions with patrons result in a paper trail. The post office keeps...

Patent model of an envelope-folding machine

Constructing an envelope involves several steps: cutting the paper into the...

Rural Free Delivery warded mailbox padlock

Since it began as an experiment in 1896, Rural Free Delivery (RFD) Service enabled...

Four-dozen egg crate, circa 1913 - 1950s

The advent of parcel post service in 1913 was a boon to farmers, marketers, and anyone with a...

Postal money order rate card

Coins can cut through envelopes, paper currency is subject to theft in the mail, and...

Pitney Bowes Desk Model (DM) postage meter

Developed to help businesses efficiently prepare bulk mailings, the postage meter imprints the...

Peerless hanging letter scale

The weight of a letter has factored into the required amount of...

Schermack stamp vending machines

Convenience of time and place are the great benefits of...