This Friday will be a Cat-alogue of Pupdates, so please send in pic of your furry friends to juliaspencerfleming care of Gmail, using the subject line "Pet pics."
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Regular readers of this blog know I'm an historical buff. I love historical fiction and historical mysteries, listen to historical podcasts, and even consume my daily news with a dose of historical context. So it's no surprise when it's my turn at the wheel at JRW, I pop over to This Day In History to see what interesting events occurred on my week's dates.
A lot of times, there's nothing I want to write about. Battles, sieges and treaties are important, but not really fun to read over your morning coffee (which is how I always picture you, dear reader.) Scientific discoveries yielding unexpected results are always good - one of these days, I'm going to have August 26 and do a deep dive into the discovery of the world's first synthetic dye.
The best historical titbits are the ones that still affect our daily lives, which is why I'm happy to share the information that today, May 6th is the 185th anniversary of the very first postage stamp, the British "Penny Black."
Up to that point, the recipient of a letter was required to pay for it, a charge that might be based on the weight, or the distance it had traveled, or, who know, whether or not you tipped your local post man. One can imagine a poor but well-loved granny going broke as her family members send her a letter a day.
But besides poor granny, a confusing, non-standardized mail system was a drag on the ever-expanding economy of the British Empire, so reformer and inventor Sir Rowland Hill suggested a pre-paid stamp (among other innovations) with the idea that it would smooth business and eventually make more money for the Royal Post because more people would send letters. And he was right! In the Penny Black's first year, the volume of letters in the UK doubled. Within ten years, it doubled again.
Other countries took notice, including the young United States of America, which established its first stamps in 1847: the Ben Franklin (5¢) and the George Washington (10¢.) Just as in the British Isles, the use of stamps brought in so much more income within four years the USPS was able to reduce the cost of a first-class letter to 3¢. (I calculated the inflation, and that three cents would be $1.25 today, so we're still getting a bargain!)
Sir Rowland's simple but brilliant idea allowed commerce to flourish world wide, kept families in contact across oceans, and undoubtedly helped to spur the westward expansion in the United States. I wouldn't be surprised if the cultural norm behind "the sender pays" is part of the reason we've switched so broadly to free shipping for our internet purchasers. It turns out the idea that NOT making the recipient pay will increase income still holds true 185 years later.
Dear readers, do you still use stamps? What sort of mail do you send and receive? And can you think of any other tiny innovations that led to huge changes?
Yes, we do indeed still use stamps [generally Forever stamps] . . . mostly we mail cards or checks to pay bills . . . .
ReplyDeleteTiny innovations? Mostly things that make life so much easier: Velcro . . . zippers . . . safety pins . . . band aids . . . .
Band-Aids! Can you imagine what life was like when you had to wrap every cut in a cotton bandage?
DeleteBefore we moved I used stamps, but now that we are an ocean away from loved ones, I do all my correspondence online. Miss writing letters by hand, though. 😢
ReplyDeleteI would, too, Elizabeth. I thought I would write letters to my daughter Virginia, who's in Den Haag, like my mom wrote to me when I was in school in London, but then I found out how much just a simply air mail cost and my jaw DROPPED.
DeleteI also use Forever stamps, but nowhere near the number I did in the past, as email and online bill-paying have changed my habits. As a history nut in Connecticut growing up near the Boston Post Road (the original road between New York City and Boston taken by post riders) I often thought of old postal habits. I liked to picture Paul Revere riding through my town on his way to New York with Sam Adams' letters to the NY Committee of Correspondence.
ReplyDeleteAs one who lived for a couple of years without electricity I tend to think electrification was the turning point in our history, but that is not a small thing. Let's see. Toothbrushes? (Selden)
Toothbrushes were a MAJOR improvement, Selden!
DeleteI always have stamps on hand, mostly for cards I send to friends. Bills are now paid online and most correspondence is by email, but I still love sending (and receiving) cards.
ReplyDeleteThinking ahead to Friday's parade of pets and as staff to one cat, how about the cat carry-case (or kennel) that helps us get our feline wonder to and from the vet with everyone in one piece (more or less). An improvement still needing to be invented is the 'self-loading' kennel, whereby the staff person (me) would no longer need to shove and cajole the cat into the kennel against their will. Rather, the cat would enter of their own volition. (I understand some cats do this naturally, but I do not have that model...)
So many people would cheer if the self-loading pet carrier was invented!
DeleteThe number of times I've had to sheepishly call the vet's office and cancel an appointment because the cat saw the carrier and has disappeared...
DeleteYes, I just used a stamp this week for a birthday card and hand written letter to my number one son. I remember stamps being five or ten cents when I was a child in the 1960s so that’s many years with no price increases!
ReplyDeleteI am going to say sanitary napkins (and subsequent improvements) were a great innovation.
Can you even imagine using rags for menstrual stuff and having to wash them out?
DeleteI did cloth diapers for a little over a year with my firstborn, and immediately switched to Pampers when the second one arrived. And that was with a modern washer and dryer. Can you imagine what it must have been like before those inventions?
DeleteKleenex instead of cloth hankies. Feminine products. Microwave ovens. I write to my 98 year old aunt twice a month, using a pretty card and enclosing pix of my grandsons.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, it's so nice you correspond with your aunt!
DeleteI recall a women's magazine from the 1920s, maybe? I love old magazines and will pick them up when they're on offer. Anyway, it had an article on ideas for different bridal showers, and one of them was a hankie shower! All the bride's friends bring a different pretty handkerchief, embroidered with her new initials, of course, and tie them together so it looks like a bouquet.
I can't remember if I've taken my medication this morning without leaving visual cues, but this is LODGED in my brain forever!
I have a set of permanent Canada Post stamps ready to use. But I rarely use them, maybe once (so far) this year.
ReplyDeleteI agree about microwave ovens. Can't imagine not having one at home.
Also electric kettles to brew water. We never used a kettle on the stove.
Well, with Canada Post's dismal performance last winter, I don't blame you for not using them. A birthday card I sent (more than a week early) to my sister in your fair city took a month to arrive!
DeleteHA, Canada Post may be going on strike again soon. The labour negitiations are not going well.
DeleteOuch, Grace, that's tough. Ditto from me on the electric kettle. I love the look of a pretty kettle on the stove, but after burning through THREE of them through absent-mindedness, Ross said, "Never again." And he was right.
DeleteElectric kettles were also in every hotel in Singapore & Taiwan. No Keurigs or Nespresso one cup machines there (as in US hotels). And I did not realize electric kettles were less common in the US until several FB friends mentioned it.
DeleteI receive bills in the mail as well as ads for various things. The occasional birthday or get well card, stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteI do still use stamps because I try to pay my bills by check whenever possible. I do pay some bills online but I'm not exactly a fan of it. Usually it is because of either the expected convenience or because thanks to delays put in place by the criminal in charge of the US Postal System or the companies themselves, I get a few bills that arrive without enough turnaround time for me to mail it back out in time for it to get there. There are some bills that I can pay in person as well so I do that too.
Jay, did you know that some online bills get paid by the bank via paper checks? I was floored to realize that was why it takes our farm utility bills 5-7 days to get paid.
DeleteKaren, I never heard that! Jay, I always pay my electrical bill by check because when I tried their electronic checking they lost my payment twice! Any business concern that makes me pay for the "privilege" of sending them my money online also gets a check in the mail. I still have Forever stamps I paid 50¢ for, you're not going to bully me with the rising rates.
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DeleteI fear that I only use stamps to send government mail, and mumble each time I do it. If we have to reapply for the provincial drug plan every year, the government could at least send a stamped envelope as they already send the envelope. The only one that seems to come with free postage is the poop-on-a-stick kit. That’s nice – the stamp, not particularly the activity. I usually buy a group of 10 stamps at Christmas and they last the year.
ReplyDeleteWe inherited my father’s stamp collection going back to 1923 – the year he was born. Only worth the stamped value on each stamp! So much for that hobby.
Innovations – email. We used to send weekly letters by post, but the introduction of email meant that everyone of all generations could be and was involved. At the time, I saved and printed out all those letters as a collection of our lives. Now that people seem to use phones for messaging and less for email (and us for nothing – too geeky for me), the ability to hold on to history is being lost.
Off topic – yesterday and for a few days before, was the remembrance of the Canadian troops liberating Holland. One of the topics was the hungry winter and how badly starved the people were in an attempt by the Germans to destroy the nation. Does anyone know off the top of their head (already tried to Google), an author who talks fictionally about this topic. Unlike Julia, I don’t like reading history in its raw form. I have read Winspear. You can use ‘spare at seaside.ns.ca’ if you like.
Margo: I can't help you with your author question, but I want to say how moving I have found the CBC news reports from Holland about the 80th anniversary of the liberation. Talk about bringing history alive in the present day -- the vets who made the journey over there, the locals who welcomed them so warmly, the celebration of the freedom(s) achieved...all of it brought me to tears and makes me humble about living in these times (with a fridge and cabinets full of food).
DeleteWe were glued to it, as Jack's uncle Jack was killed just across the border in Germany, and is buried in the cemetery they were visited. His grave was always maintained by a Dutch family, who kept in contact with the relatives in Canada - what kindness. We were also friends with a man whose family spent the war hidden in a wall - he was born post war. It was so touching to see those soldiers and to realize that most of the people who were honouring them were not even born when the war was over. Then there were the stories about chocolate!
DeleteMargo, Virginia is over there and took part in the Liberation Day festivities with her friends. Interestingly enough, one of the ways the Dutch mark the day is by offering free admission to their museums; she went to several. She said every house has a Netherlands flag flying, with a ribbon of orange attached. Quite a sight.
DeleteMargo, I used to read a book by Candace Fleming, Boxes for Katje, to my upper elementary classes. It’s about an American girl (based on Fleming’s mother) who sent a box of things to a young Dutch girl in the post-war years. It’s a lovely story and taught our kids a little about what life was like without soap or, yes, chocolate! — Pat S
DeleteI like to use attractive stamps when sending greeting cards. Old-fashioned but still fun. And when my grandkids are at camp, they get real mail from me, stamps and all. A fun thing to add here: local PBS station is running an old series, Lark Rise to Candleford. Rural life in late Victorian England and all around charming. AND it is partly about the local post office, a real center of town life and staff who take their jobs as part of the government very seriously. Patriotic duty. Really delightful
ReplyDeleteA friend, who devoted many years to promoting live NewYorican music (by Puerto Ricans transplanted to New York) had a sheet of stamps based on her musicians! I meant to frame the sheet I got - the art was gorgeous - but didn't get around to it.
DeleteTriss, when the Forever stamp price was about to go up to 60¢, I purchased sheets and sheets of LOVE and pretty floral stamps. I figured I was pre-buying for any of my kids' wedding or baby shower invites.
DeleteI don't pay bills by mail (except for those that charge more if you pay on line, Multnomah County property tax, looking at you!) but do write cards, especially thank-yous on a regular basis. I did a gratitude project one November where I sent a thank you to someone in my life every day (very satisfying) The post office, bless their hearts, installed the new outdoor post boxes facing the wrong way, so you can no longer drive through and just drop your letters in. I found out that the lobby opens at 6:30, so I often will walk to the post office and mail my cards in the early morning. I can also use the self-service stamp machine. I can't quite think of any innovations other than the ones mentioned.
ReplyDeleteGillian, my town adds a surcharge for all their payments - registration, property tax, dog license - if you want to pay using your card. The nice clerk explained to me they can't eat the cost of processing payments, unlike commercial vendors, because it would require an additional line item in the budget!
DeleteI use stamps regularly, and love sending (and receiving) handwritten birthday greetings and sending thank-you notes. We also use stamps to pay some bills and make contributions by mail. But I think the USPO started the Forever stamps so people wouldn't realize the price has gone up and up. I have no idea how much one stamp is worth these days.
ReplyDeleteDuring the pandemic I began sending all my book mail with prepaid labels I print out at home. There's a little upcharge from the app, but it's worth not having to go into the post office.
We do get too much junk mail, which goes straight into the recycling bin. I wish these charities would realize how much money they are wasting on us.
Edith, it's now 78 cents! But, compared to having FedEx deliver, as Julia said, it's a bargain.
DeleteWow, it costs $1.44 to send a domestic letter in Canada.
DeleteOkay, I was curious about this, and consulted Wikipedia. They have a very nice graph showing the real and adjusted prices of stamps from the mid-1800s to 2019. Amazingly, the inflation adjusted price of a first class stamp has remained pretty consistently in the 50¢ region throughout the decades!
DeleteWhile I do have stamps on hand, their use is jealously guarded. Since my great aunt died I no longer write actual letters, most bills are paid online or by phone. However, for some reason probably involving cost, I have to mail a check to pay my property and school tax bills. Yes, I could pay them in person, but I prefer not to. I suppose it doesn't have to be an actual check to pay those bills, but there is a fee to use a credit card, and it still cannot be done online.
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated thinking about all of the 'little' inventions that improved our lives. Just imagine the difference the invention of the button made. A search has told me that buttonholes were invented in the 13th century, so we've had buttons for so long it is hard to believe that they had to be invented. They were a big improvement over whatever method had been used previously to hold parts of garments together. The zipper, a very modern invention only came about in 1893, although it was called something else and was not commercially successful.
Thank you Julia for sending us down the rabbit holes!
The zipper!
DeleteI would have loved to see the inventor of the zipper trying to convince gentlemen it was going to be a good idea to close their pants with gnashing metal teeth instead of with buttons...
DeleteI look at stamps as tiny works of art, and I love them!
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteI do, too, Linda! My father in law was a collector, and we saved some of the framed assortments he had because they're perfect as art.
DeleteI bought a dozen sheets of Bugs Bunny Forever stamps 8 years ago and am still using them. I pay pretty much all of my bills online, so it's rare that I need one. But Bugs and the crew make me smile anytime I look at them, making them money well spent.
ReplyDeleteAnnette, that's one of the things I love about certain stamps. When Spencer was in the Navy, I bought multiple booklets of Service Dogs to use on his letters. I just recently ran out of them, but it gave me a lift every time a stuck a picture of a hero dog on an envelope.
DeleteWe usually buy stamps in November to send calendars out. It's really gotten to be a pricey Christmas card, as this past year each one cost $3 to deliver. But compared to other delivery services it is still pretty economical, as long as you send them to the right address. We try to keep our mailing list up to date, but we always get a handful back.
ReplyDeleteInventions that I'm grateful for include toilet paper on a roll, sewing machines, computers, and microwave ovens. Did you know that the first "computer", ie binary system, was the jacquard loom in about 1801? It used virtually the same type of punch cards used with early mainframe computers, but to make beautiful woven patterns in fabric. One of my favorite factoids from when I used to give talks about luxury fabric.
Judi, before buttons, hooks and straight pins precariously kept clothing on people. In ancient times a stick of some kind--rudimentary to ornate, was used to hold clothing bits together, stuck into a hole in the garment. Think of the Scottish kilt pin, which technically doesn't hold the kilt on, but you get the idea. Press snaps, invented in 1885 are another excellent innovation.
Karen, I didn't know that about the jacquard looms! How fascinating.
DeleteFascinating, Julia! I wish I used stamps more, especially as IF you write someone they might write back! I still mail sympathy notes, occasional birthday cards, and Christmas cards. I keep meaning to write notes more often, maybe that will be a goal for the rest of this year… And I should buy enough Freedom stamps for said writing before the price at the post office goes up again.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every time the price is about to go up, I stock up, Suzette. Although at this point I have enough I may not need to next time!
DeleteI do buy the Forever Stamps (does the US post office sell any other kind?) and keep a sheet on my desk. I just gave one to The Hubby yesterday. I wrote The Boy every other week when he was in college, but now it's more occasional as most bills are paid online and I correspond with my family via phone call or text.
ReplyDeleteMy small thing is those reusable chip bag clips. I use those for everything!
Must find a recent picture of Koda for Friday.
Liz, the USPS still sells priced stamps, which I found out when I wanted to use a roll of 39¢ first class stamps Ross had (over)bought for publicity mailings and never sent. I got sheets of 10¢, 2¢ and yes, 1¢ stamps and used those in various combinations for three years!
DeleteI absolutely love stamps! I love them, and choose them with much delight! Years ago, many, I saved up, every week, a sheet of stamps to give to my new grandson. I was so pleased and happy with it! Because of course, he would love them. Reddies, he did not care one bit. But I have a drawer full of stamp history, beginning when I think stamps we’re like 25 cents each . And I still love them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea, Hank! And you know what? Some day, some stamp collector will have these fall into their hands and weep with joy.
DeleteYes indeedy! I always have some stamps on hand. Occasionally Frank needs one for some missive of his. I need them for thank you notes, birthday cards, etc. It takes a while to get through a sheet but I can look forward to picking out a cool design the next time.
ReplyDeleteThat's part of the fun, Pat!
DeleteJULIA: Always use stamps and still do! Love the self adhesive type now so I do not have to lick the stamps anymore. Every time I travel, I like to send postcards to myself to memorize my travels.
ReplyDeleteDiana, that's a wonderful idea, and post cards stamps are less expensive than letters as well.
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