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ONCE, AMERICANS COULD SEND KIDS THROUGH THE US MAIL
Starting on New Year’s Day in 1913, the United States Postal Service made an addition to its list of mail services: the Parcel Post, a package delivery option.
For the first time, Americans could now send small packages and larger parcels through the mail and have them delivered to friends and family across the country, just like letters.
However, as with every new invention, there were those who tried to test the limits of the new service. Some began sending their children through the mail.
Yes, there were some parents who attempted — and succeeded — in sending their real, live children across the country by way of the Parcel Post. Fortunately, all of the children arrived unharmed.
“It got some headlines when it happened, probably because it was so cute,” United States Postal Service historian Jenny Lynch said.
The first baby to be sent by Parcel Post was eight-month-old James Beagle. His parents, Jesse and Mathilda, sent little James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away from them.
The entire package cost them USD$50.15, and $50 of that was the cost of insurance. That amount translates to about USD$1500 in today’s money!
His parents apparently loved little James enough to insure him for a lot, but shipping him alone by Parcel Post, like a dog bed, does not seem like the most sensible way to treat a valuable possession. Maybe they really wanted something to happen so that they could collect the insurance! Weird service, weird parents, poor little Jimmy.
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The most famous child-mailing case took place on Feb. 19, 1914. Four-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed from her parents’ Idaho home to the home of her grandparents which was 73 miles away.
It would seem that, in the early 1900s, people had a lot of faith in their mail carriers.
“Mail carriers were trusted servants, and this service just goes to prove it,” Ms Lynch said. “There are stories of rural carriers actually helping pregnant women to deliver their babies and taking care of the sick. Even now, they sometimes save lives because they are often the only persons that visit a remote household every day.”
Mercifully, just two years after it began, the Post Office officially announced that children would no longer be accepted as Parcel Post packages.
Of course, that did not do much to stop a few parents. For a couple years, even after it was made illegal, some parents would still occasionally try, unsuccessfully, to slip their kids into the mail.
Now, thankfully, the Post Office has completely outlawed the shipment of live children, although you can still mail live animals under certain conditions.
But just wait. If there is any money today to be made in it, some company will find some way to revive the service. Uber Tots? Amazon Primary?
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