Postmaster's Challenge Answers

Correct answers are underlined.

1.

Continue the phrase: Neither snow nor rain nor...

a) Sleet and fog

b) Heat and smog

c) Gloom of night

2.

What does ZIP stand for?

a) Zoned Interior Postage

b) Zone Improvement Plan

c) Zero Increase in Postage

3.

What is not a criteria for a US stamp?

a) Primarily features American-related subjects

b) No living person may be honored

c) A Love stamp must be issued every year

4.

Who was never a U.S. postmaster?

a) Cliff Clavin

b) William Faulkner

c) Abraham Lincoln

5.

Paper bits punched from perforated stamps are called?

a) Stamp holes

b) Chad

c) Imperforates

6.

When did Parcel Post Service begin in the U.S.?

a) 1893

b) 1946

c) 1913

7.

Cranes holding mail bags were set up next to railways to...

a) Weigh mail before putting it on the train

b) Let trains pick up mail without stopping

c) Alert engineers to stop for the mail

8.

Which animal has not moved mail in the U.S.?

a) Bear

b) Camel

c) Ox

9.

What mail did a mob burn in Charleston, SC in 1835?

a) Anti-religious tracts being delivered on the Sabbath

b) Anti-slavery newspapers

c) Catalogs and advertisements

10.

Stamp collectors know a FDC is...

a) A Finely Decorated Cover

b) The First Document Canceled

c) A First Day Cover

11.

Who was the first American woman on a U.S. stamp?

a) Amelia Earhart

b) Susan B. Anthony

c) Martha Washington

12.

The most famous U.S. stamp error is an upside down illustration of...

a) A train

b) An airplane

c) The U.S. Capitol building

13.

Which of these pilots regularly carried mail on her flights?

a) Harriet Quimby

b) Amelia Earhart

c) Bessie Coleman

14.

When was the last run of the Railway Mail Service?

a) 1947

b) 1977

c) 1967

15.

What do stamp collectors mean by the term "cover"?

a) An envelope

b) The charge for buying a stamp by auction

c) The markings on a stamp

16.

How fast did pneumatic tubes carry mail underground?

a) 17 mph

b) 25 mph

c) 35 mph

17.

When did the U.S. government issue its first stamps?

a) 1840

b) 1892

c) 1847

18.

Some stamp collectors specialize in EFOs, which are...

a) Envelopes Franked by Officials

b) Errors, Freaks and Oddities

c) Expensive, Folded or Original

19.

Star Routes are...

a) Contract mail routes

b) Mail routes for celebrities

c) Star-shaped postal routes

20.

What color were Postal Service vehicles and mailboxes from 1920s to 1940s?

a) Red

b) Blue

c) Green

21.

R.F.D. stands for...

a) Rural Free Delivery

b) Regular and Frequent Delivery

c) Rightly Forwarded Delivery

22.

The Pony Express ran between...

a) New York and New Orleans

b) St. Joseph and Sacramento

c) Kansas City and Los Angeles

23.

Which American was portrayed on a stamp while still alive?

a) George Washington

b) Franklin D. Roosevelt

c) Jefferson Davis

24.

Which mail-carrying airplane was built first?

a) de Havilland 4

b) Pitcarin Mailwing

c) Trimotor

25.

"Ding" Darling was important in postal history because...

a) He created the first U.S. stamps

b) He designed the first Federal Duck stamp

c) He was the youngest Postmaster General in history

26.

Which U.S. president collected and designed stamps?

a) Franklin Roosevelt

b) Jimmy Carter

c) Richard Nixon

27.

Which nation produced the first postage stamp?

a) Italy

b) Great Britain

c) United States

28.

"Box" Brown got his nickname from shipping himself in a container because...

a) It was cheaper than going by train

b) It was a publicity stunt

c) He was escaping slavery

29.

May Pierstaff was...

a) The first woman on a U.S. postage stamp

b) Mailed as a parcel post package

c) A heroic letter carrier

30.

The Postal Inspection Service can trace its roots back to...

a) 1865

b) 1810

c) 1772

31.

What doesn't carry the U.S. mail today?

a) A mule train down the Grand Canyon

b) A hovercraft in Alaska

c) The Pony Express in California

32.

Which country didn't Owney the traveling mail dog visit?

a) Germany

b) China

c) Japan

33.

Who was the first Native American on a U.S. stamp?

a) Pocahontas

b) Red Cloud

c) Sitting Bull

34.

The King's Best Highway, an early American postal route, is now known as...

a) Route 66

b) Route 1

c) The Chisholm Trail

35.

What reason was given for firing postmaster Mary Katherine Goddard in 1789?

a) She made fun of the Postmaster General

b) She was horrible at her job

c) She was a woman

36.

What are "Postmaster Provisional" stamps?

a) Stamps that can only be used by postmasters

b) Stamps created by local postmasters

c) Stamps featuring postmasters as subjects

37.

One thief was nicknamed "Jack in the Box" because...

a) He hid in a box in a plane's cargo hold to rob the mail

b) He hid behind mailboxes to rob people

c) He hid his loot in mailboxes

38.

Which phrase was not used by railway clerks designating a train route?

a) The Thief & Crook (Theif River Falls & Crookston, MN)

b) The Love & Gun (Loveland & Gunnison, CO)

c) The Sin & Saint (Cincinnati & St. Louis)

39.

Which President segregated the postal service?

a) Woodrow Wilson

b) Abraham Lincoln

c) Theodore Roosevelt

40.

How many annual requests does the Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee receive for stamp subjects?

a) About 5,000

b) About 12,000

c) About 25,000

41.

A mint stamp...

a) Was issued by the U.S. mint

b) Is green

c) Has not been used

42.

A tagged stamp has...

a) Phosphor added to it

b) Been canceled

c) Part of another stamp still attached to it

43.

The average lifespan of a U.S. airmail pilot in the 1920s was...

a) 1100 flying hours

b) 900 flying hours

c) 5000 flying hours

44.

The most money ever stolen from a U.S. mail train was...

a) $50,000,000

b) $260,000

c) $3,000,000

45.

How fast did Railway Mail clerks have to sort letters to keep their jobs?

a) 600 letters per hour

b) 150 letters per hour

c) 75 letters per hour

46.

Which was not mailed in the first two years of Parcel Post Service?

a) A child

b) An insect

c) A dog

47.

Who didn't carry the U.S. mail?

a) Slim Lewis

b) Parcel Pete

c) Snowshoe Thompson

48.

Which was not used by U.S. Airmail Service pilots as a navigation aid?

a) Radar

b) A cigar

c) Train tracks

49.

What did it cost to mail a 1/2 ounce letter from New York to Oregon in 1847?

a) 27 cents

b) 40 cents

c) 12 cents

50.

How did Pony Express riders carry the mail?

a) In saddle pockets

b) In backpacks

c) In paper bags