Delivery of children by mail was very beneficial. The service cost a few cents, and even babies were accepted for departure. The smallest "package" was only 8 months old
Send one baby to grandparents? Today, parents cannot even think about it. Even if it is really necessary, there are rules for using public transport, which in most cases prohibit children under 7 years of age from traveling by train and in minibuses themselves. We are not even talking about babies and toddlers: no one will take responsibility for delivering someone else's child. However, many years ago this was much easier. In the United States, it was possible to send a child by mail, and it cost much less than a train ticket.
Accepted children weighing up to 23 kg
The first child to be preserved in history as a "valuable cargo" was the eight-month-old James from Ohio. In 1913, his parents decided to send him to his grandmother, who lived one and a half kilometers from the house. The shipment request has been duly completed:
the baby was insured for $ 50, bought a stamp (it cost only 15 cents) and handed the child over to the postman. All the way, the postal employee carried the child in his arms, and safely delivered it to the address.
At first, the post office accepted children up to 4 kg / photo mel.fm
At that time, the rules for the operation of the American mail were very vague. Almost everyone was accepted for departure. The only limitation was the weight of the parcels: the maximum that could be sent by mail was 4 kg. In the notorious 1913, this figure was increased to 23 kg. At the same time, there were no prohibitions on the shipment of "live cargo".
Already in the first six months after the increase in carrying capacity limits, Americans actively began to send children of all ages by mail. The postmen carried the little ones in their arms, but the older children had to walk alongside them. The service was called "baby mail" and was quite inexpensive: depending on the distance, sending the child to the parents cost 15-50 cents. For comparison, a train ticket at that time cost about $ 2. The savings were evident.
Such stamps were glued to children directly on clothes / photo stena.ee
Children, of course, were not packed in boxes. But a stamp was always glued to the clothes. Usually, children were sent to a distance of no more than a few kilometers - within the boundaries of one city or to a neighboring settlement. Nevertheless, a true legend has survived in the history of the American mail. This is a "transfer" of six-year-old Charlotte May Pierstroff, which her parents sent to her grandmother 120 km from home. The little ones put several stamps on their coat and put her in the cargo compartment of the postal train along with the rest of the parcels.
May Pierstroff rode in the cargo compartment of the train / photo mel.fm
The end of the "baby mail" era
When the postmaster general of America found out about the story with May Pirstroff, he immediately issued a decree prohibiting the sending of children by mail. However, the service was so popular, budgetary and convenient that the Americans could not refuse it. In the same year, six-year-old Edna Neff broke May Pistroff's record for "range." Together with the postman, she traveled 720 miles (more than 1000 km) to get from Florida to her grandfather's house in Virginia. This trip is considered the longest in the history of "baby mail"
The "baby mail" service was a significant saving on travel / photo mel.fm
The year 1915 in the USA became a record year for the transfer of children. Despite the postmaster's ban, the Americans sent their children to trifling distances and to neighboring states. Nobody paid much attention to the child's age: for example, at the end of the summer of 1915, three-year-old little Maud Smith drove more than 60 km from her grandmother to her home. This was the final straw for the leadership of the American Postal Service. The case was taken under special investigation, the postman was brought to justice. More live "parcels" in the United States were not accepted for dispatch.
This photo was attached to the ban on the transfer of children / photo stena.ee
In 1920, the US Department of Postal Service issued a strict regulation that prohibited the sending of children (and indeed people in general) by mail. However, American postmen lamented this for a long time: they believed that in this way people showed their confidence in the state. However, most likely, the "baby mail" service only said that it was too expensive for an ordinary US citizen to travel on a train with a baby at that time.
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