Interesting postal dates.

July 26 1775 2nd continental congress agrees to appoint a postmaster
Benjamin Franklin was appointed first Post Master that day. Following the adoption of the constitution in march 1789
Office of the PM general was created and placed under the treasury.
SAMUEL OSGOOD was the first P.M. under the Constitution.
Philadelphia was headquarters for the post office untill 1800
when it was moved to Wash. DC IN 1813 the postoffice begam using the waterways to move the mail.
In 1831 .The rail Roads began to carry mail short distances.
IN 1836 the P.O. awarded its first actual contract to the Railroads.
1896 the post office began experimenting with the Horseless
carriage to deliver the mail.
1901 The first contract was awarded to move mail by automobile.
1914 the costs of contracts were getting too high so the P.O.
bought its first autos and established the first Gov. motorpool
on October 19 1914
1963 The P.O. announced zip codes would begin July 1 1963
A 5 number zip code was assigned to every home in the U.S.
the first digit 0 for the northeast
to 9 for the far west
The second and third digit were the sectional centers where mail
was sorted. The last two digits were the smaller post offices and
postal zones within larger cities.
1970 Richard Nixon signed the postal reorganization act.
This changed thepost office to the U.S. Postal Service
July 1 1971 The Postal Service officially began operations
1978 The postal Service expanded the zip code to add another
4 digits.This new code allows the service to sort mail right down
to a city block
1982 The P.ostal Service activated its automation program
with Optical character readers and bar codes sprayed on each letter
the P.O. could become more effecient and move more mail than
ever before.
1983 the zip + 4 as it has come to be known , and the delivery
of the OCR systems was implimented.