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![In_Praise_of_the_Postman_Life]()
Mail carrier Clifford Bodine, Michigan, 1955.![In_Praise_of_the_Postman_Life_8]()
Rural Vermont mailman Mark Whalon makes rounds in sub-zero weather.![In_Praise_of_the_Postman_Life_7]()
Self-service, 24-hour automated post office, Maryland, 1964.![In_Praise_of_the_Postman_Life_5]()
Singing cowboy Gene Autry (second from left) stands outside the post office in an Oklahoma town named for him, 1948.![In_Praise_of_the_Postman_Life_2]()
Post office, Washington D.C., 1944.Remember when...? In praise of the Post Office
The U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it plans to end Saturday mail delivery, in one of the most significant steps taken to date to cut costs at the struggling agency. It wasn’t always like this. For generations, the postal service was embraced as an American treasure: the idea that one could slap an inexpensive stamp on an envelope in Maine and a stranger would, within days, safely and reliably hand-deliver that letter to someone in California suggested a kind of national ingenuity and generosity that pretty much every citizen could take pride in. See more great photos from way back when at Life.com.
Move Forward
- Remember when...? In praise of the Post Office
