The idea of postage for everyone was scorned by all sorts of people, including the postal authorities. The masses couldn’t read or write, they argued. What was the point of government creating a postal service tailored to their needs? But bipartisan support ensured legislation based on a vision of what postage could achieve. It was a huge success, creating mass literacy.
Before “Penny” Postage
Before the 1840’s if you wanted to send a letter in Britain you
found a stagecoach going to the recipient’s town and gave it to the driver.
He’d track down the addressee and demand payment for delivery from them. The
charge, paid by the recipient, would depend on how many sheets of paper you’d
used, so it was good idea to write twice on each side, the second time at right
angles to the first.
This was adequate for the needs of the time.
Only the elite could write or read and letters were a rarity. Most people
didn’t know anyone outside their district, so they had no-one to write to even
if it had been easy and cheap to do so.
The campaign for universal postage
Into this situation came a group of campaigners who believed the birth of railways created an emerging possibility. They envisioned a postal service based on high volume. Making that work would require:
- Standardised mail drop-off points around the country
- Stamps to be legally recognised: so payment could be made up front, saving time on the doorstep
- Standardised time across the UK: instead of each city setting its clocks as they liked, there would have to be consistent train timetables so mailbags could be processed
- Individuals learning to read and write
- Householders cutting a slot in their front door through which letters could be dropped.
Campaigners believed that legislation had to be passed to achieve points 1, 2 and 3. But if that happened, self interest would propel people into carrying out points 4 and 5.
The reaction was widespread derision. The postmaster general at the time told parliament the whole scheme was laughable. But campaigners persisted and achieved support across political parties. A bill to create “Penny” Postage was drawn up by the Tory party. They lost an election before it could be passed. In 1848 the victorious Whig party passed the act.
After the Act
Details taken from: "Rowland Hill - Victorian Benefactor and Genius". Colin G. Hey. Quiller Press 1999.
Everything the campaigners had predicted came true. In the following 10 years:
- There was an explosion of literacy as millions had an incentive to read and write
- People became willing to move away from home in search of opportunity because they knew they could stay in touch with their family and friends
- Postal revenues from the utra-cheap Penny Post surpassed the earnings of the fragmented, costly, previous means of sending letters
Every country in the world followed Britain’s example. The basic letter rate in the UK is now more than a penny but the original concept, post from anywhere to anywhere for a fixed low fee, endures.
Like Universal Postage, NEMs can seem hopelessly ambitious. Many of us buy online, only a small proportion of sell over the Internet at present. But NEMs could radically expand the benefits of doing so and the sectors in which it could be done. A regulated, standardised system predicated on high-volume/ fixed ultra-low cost could create powerful incentives to take up computer usage. There’s no guarantee it will succeed of course. But if it did it could, like the Penny Post, empower the lives of millions.
