World Post Day 2010

This past Saturday countries around the world celebrated 'World Post Day', which marked the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (USU) and the beginning of the free flow of mail between nations.

"In 1874, the representatives of 22 countries from around the world met in the Swiss capital Bern and formed 'General Postal Union" with a view to facilitating the smooth and unhindered exchange and movement of mails from one part of the world to another. The General Postal Union was later renamed Universal Postal Union (UPU). The creation of the UPU has brought the world under a single postal territory," writes Mobasher-ur Rahman on Bangladesh's New Nation website.

Postcrossing  points out postal administrations celebrate in many different ways.

The site says, "This includes: special philatelic exhibitions, free entrance in postal museums, introducing new products and services, special cancellation marks, seminars, workshops and more! In somome countries it says, "...you can even get free goodies (like free postage!)."

It also encouraged people to "...go out, buy some postcards or some nice letter paper and write to all your friends and family; remind them that the post is a very important part of our lives."

And don't forget to use stamps!

For more on World Post Day, click here.