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A tale of two postal services
Did your Christmas (or other holiday) mail arrive on time?
When you think about it, creating and growing a national (and international) universal postal system is an amazing thing. It takes a lot of organization and infrastructure. Started by kings for their own use, particularly in times of war, they have grown into a service for everyone, carrying not just news but parcels, and greatly facilitating commerce.
There have been rogues along the way, and some have profited, but there have also been a lot of people dedicated to getting the mail through.
It has been up to kings and governments to protect the service for the benefit of all, but of late they seem to have been doing a rotten job.
In recent years post offices have faced competition from rival mail services and email and parcel delivery services, where governments have allowed these to encroach. So, it is perhaps to be expected that something would give. In addition, the profit motive has become an increasingly large priority around the world, with good service being considered less and less important.
So how have postal services fared in the US and the UK?
UK
In the Middle Ages, starting with Henry I, kings kept their own corps of messengers to send correspondence, which went as…