The Kid's In The Mail

 

In 1913, the United States Post Office introduced a new service: parcel post.

 

Suddenly, Americans could ship packages weighing up to fifty pounds. The rules were clear about weight and postage. They were less clear about what counted as a package.

 

People tested the limits.

 

Farmers mailed chickens. Merchants mailed bricks. Someone mailed a live alligator. And in a few rural towns, families noticed something else.

 

Children fit the weight limit.

 

Parents began mailing young children short distances, usually to relatives. The kids weren’t stuffed into boxes. They rode openly, often accompanied by trusted mail carriers who already knew the families. Postage was cheaper than a train ticket, and the routes were reliable.

 

Postal officials were not amused.

 

Within a short time, the Post Office issued firm rules banning the mailing of humans. Children weren’t parcels.

 

The practice stopped almost as quickly as it began.

 

But for a moment in American history, the mail didn’t just deliver letters and packages.

 

It delivered kids.