The Postal System

Kids Learning

The Postal System

How does mail reach from one place to another?

Have you ever thought how a letter travels thousands of miles before reaching its final destination? This journey covered by a letter is extremely fascinating .So read on to know more about the process through which we receive a letter sent to us.

Let us read about the Postal system in our country by taking a look at various details of the Post office.

Ancient postal system

In ancient times, letters were sent through pigeons. The pigeon post was the earliest known form of sending messages through long distances. Can you believe that these pigeons were not the ordinary ones? They were called homecoming pigeons and were specially trained to deliver letters. A small metal box was attached to a pigeon’s leg and letters were put into it. The pigeons then found their way back to their homes. Once they reached, people helped them in taking out the letters.

How a letter travels great distances always fascinates us!

Try this yourself. Put a letter in the letter box and see how it is delivered from one place to another. It is collected by the postman and taken to the post office of your area. From here it is sent by train, road or air to the destined location of your letter. The postman is indeed our real friend. He faithfully delivers our letters, telegrams, money orders and parcels in all kind of weather conditions. In India we have letter boxes of different colours for local, interstate and international destinations.

Letters are written on postcards, inland covers, stamped envelopes and aerogrammes.
Postcards are issued by the post office; they can be used to write small messages as they don’t have much space to write on it, they are cheaper than envelopes and inland letters.
Inland covers are used to write long letters as they have a large amount of space and have stamps on them.
Envelopes are used for writing even longer letters and they need stamps to be pasted. One can make their own envelopes also.
Stamps should be pasted on the envelopes as we have to pay for using the services of the postal system.
PIN is an acronym which stands for postal index number. We should always write the correct postal address and pin code on our letters to help the postman deliver them at the right place.
Messages are sent even faster through telegraph system. If you want to send a short message quickly, you give it to the telegraph office with the address you want the telegram to be sent. It is send by a special telegraphic method to reach in a few hours
These days post offices have another facility where important letters and parcels are sent by speed post or by courier.