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Mobile post offices deliver mail and other postal services through specially equippedvehicles, such as trucks and trains.
Canada began itsrailroad mail services in 1859.[1] BothCN Rail andCP Rail used mailcars to haul mail across Canada. With the switch to mail delivery by air or truck,Canada Post no longer delivers mail by rail.
Via Rail provides courier/mail service, VIAPAQ Courier, at select train stations inOntario,Quebec,New Brunswick andNova Scotia.
The French postal service,La Poste, carries mail on exclusively mail trains, operating at night, calledSNCF TGV La Poste.
Mobile postal trucks serve two routes forHongkong Post operating withinHong Kong.
In Israel, mobile post offices began in 1955 as part of the country'spostal services for theNegev and Galilee.
Following anearthquake in 2005, theUniversal Postal Union (UPU) donated monies toPakistan for a mobile postal office truck.[2]
The Mobile Post Office was introduced in November 1952 and was operated by Postal Services Department. It provided on-the-spot postal services to residents living in rural areas where there were no post offices. The vans followed fixed routes and time schedules which were announced in the newspapers and each visit only lasted about one to two hours. As more postal facilities were set up across the island, the mobile post offices were no longer needed to serve customers in rural areas and were eventually withdrawn from service in 1980.[3]
TheUnited Kingdom pioneered the modern use of what it calls atravelling post office (TPO), a railway service that operated for the first time in 1838.[4][5] TPOs were removed from service byRoyal Mail in early 2004.[6]
In the UK, road vehicles that provide postal services are known as mobile post offices, to differentiate them from the (now obsolete) rail travelling post offices (TPOs). Mobile post offices were first introduced in 1936 to provide telegraph, telephone and postal services at special events such as race meetings and shows. The need for large mobile post offices declined over the years, but since the mid-1990s small van versions have appeared in rural towns without a permanent post office.[7]
In theUnited States, the most prominent mobile post offices arerailway post offices. For about 30 years, ending in the 1920s, a few cities hadstreetcar offices. In addition, the U.S. runs aBoat Railway Post Offices. The boat services were first available for inland waterways, beginning in 1857, and subsequently ocean routes toPuerto Rico,Canal Zone, and fromSeattle toAlaska. The rail and boat offices were discontinued in 1977 and 1978, respectively.
According to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) database, other countries with mobile post offices include:Armenia,Austria,Azerbaijan,Belarus,Bulgaria,Czech Republic,Egypt,Greece,Hungary,Indonesia,Kazakhstan,Lithuania,Luxembourg,Madagascar,Moldova,New Caledonia,New Zealand,North Macedonia,Norway,Peru,Romania,Russia,Saudi Arabia,Serbia,Slovakia,Spain,Sweden,Switzerland,Tunisia,Turkey,Turkmenistan,Ukraine,Uzbekistan,Vietnam,Yemen, andZimbabwe.[8] Taiwan's Chunghwa Post, which is no longer a member of the UPU, also maintains one mobile post office inYuli, Hualien.[9]
Countries have issuedpostage stamps to recognize mobile postal services. For instance, in 1913, the U.S. issuedparcel post stamps that portray a mail train as well as an employee of a railway post office. In 1974,Zambia issued a series of four stamps ascommemoratives for the centenary of theUniversal Postal Union. Israel issued a stamp in 1959 picturing its red mobile post truck, pictured.
In 1950, the Mobile Post Office Society was established as aphilatelic organization interested in thepostmarks and activities of mobile offices, primarily in the U.S.
Inpopular culture, the mobile post office may be best known for theGreat Train Robbery (1963).
