The U.S. Postal Service Turns 250—So Let's Celebrate the Innovations They Have Given the World

For over 100 years in the early days of the U.S. Postal Service, the way mail would get sent from small towns involved a crazy method of railway mail clerks attaching pouches to a moving train as it slowed and went through each town. That's just one of the fascinating stories you can read about this week as the U.S. Post Office gets set to ​celebrate their 250th anniversary​ this Saturday.

From helping get commercial aviation off the ground (literally) to inventing the ZIP code system that digitized mail sorting, to developing OCR technology that can read handwritten mail at nearly 98 percent accuracy to first using ecommerce and creating a website all way back in 1994, the USPS has ​given the world plenty of tech innovations over the years​.

More importantly, it has become one of the rarest of government institutions that people trust to consistently deliver on their mission. When you mail something via USPS, the expectation is that it will arrive, and it is rare when it doesn't. That's the sort of reputation that is difficult to earn, but in this case is well deserved.

So this weekend, take a moment to share the story of USPS with friends or with your kids. Visit their engaging website and watch some videos of the history of the postal service. If you're in DC, visit their ​celebrations at the National Postal Museum​. Or maybe go old school and hand write someone a letter.