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An older Business reply card | Postcards79 of 512 |  |  |
Posted 4 months ago
musikchoo
(474 items)
I found this inside the pages of a 1902 arithmetic book. I think the Number one is considered a pre runner to our zip code of today. No idea if that's right and no idea if this is as old as the book. Comments are Welcome!
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PostcardsPostcards became popular at the turn of the 20th Century, especially for se…
Zip codes weren't used until 1963. Major cities had postal zones denoted by numbers such as the 1. The law allowing for Business Reply Mail (BRM) cards was enacted in 1928.
Thank You for the info Tony !!
By the way, your card does resemble one of the first types as shown on the Postal Service web site so it may be from the 1930's. This might be collectible to a post card collector. I couldn't find any past history for the company named.
Good News Tony! Thanks.
I believe the postal zone was a created in 1943 during the war. It ended when the zip code was created in 1963.
I could be wrong. :)
fdm is right - here is some more info - sort of narrows down the time period.
POSTAL ZONES - You may have noticed that many addresses during the period between 1943 and 1963 had a one or two digit number following the city name. These numbers were postal zones. It may surprise you to learn that postal zones were instituted in 1943 during WWII. They were necessary because many postal clerks had gone into the service and the new inexperienced postal clerks were having trouble sorting the mail. The zone system was put in place to make things easier.
ZIP CODES - By 1963, most of first-class mail in the United States was generated by a small number of large-volume mailers, so The Post Office Department devised a plan to speed handling and delivery of letter mail. By this time most businesses had automated mailing systems that could easily handle the 5 digits that would allow mailings to bypass as many as six mail-handling steps. Zip codes went into effect on July 1, 1963. ZIP stood for Zone Improvement Plan.
Thank You fdm !!
I don't always get it right. I am a newbie, and as such I am humbled......learning.
It's almost easier to determine the age of an old piece of ephemera from the printing/ fonts used, than by other means... Sans serif fonts weren't widely used until after WWII, so my guess is this is from the 40s or 50s. Which goes along with the whole postal code discussion!
I believe You are Right stefdesign!! Thank You !!
Thank You pw-collector !!