Mail is a Bargain Compared to Yesterday

TV Channel 10 News in Central New York reports mail today is a bargain compared to yesteryear.

So says stamp collector Ed Bailey in an article A History of Stamps by reporter Joleene Des Rosiers.

In the piece Ed points out, "The first stamp printed for the U.S. was 1847. A five cent and a 10 cent. The five cent was for less than 300 miles and the 10 cent was for over three hundred miles and more depending on how far it was.

"It was an additional ten cents for every 300 miles. Case in point: a letter traveling from Albany, New York to Portland Oregon would have cost the author roughly $2.95. According to Google maps, it's a 2, 951 mile trip. Divide that by 10 cents and you get your $2.95. Today, a mere 42 cents!"

Maureen Marion, spokesperson of the Syracuse Post Office, is quoted in the article as saying," "For quite a length of time, we were doing things like every several years and instead of a penny or two it would be more like three or four cents.For the average person, it was still a couple of dollars a year change in postage. It wasn't prohibitive."

Shown above, an 1850 Railway cover dated Feb. 22 sent from Massachusetts to Stockbridge, N.Y. currently available on eBay for $800.

To read the entire article and watch a video, click here.