In the 1600s, there was no such thing as a central post office system. Mail in Britain, Ireland and the new colonies in North America was carried by "post boys". These intrepid young men had their own horses and offered to carry messages and packages to a destination. The person who received the package had to pay the money in order to get it.

While this did work, it was very expensive and full of difficulties. The carrier had to hope the person at the end would pay for the item, and the person at the end had to be prepared to pay cash for items which showed up. If something happened to the carrier's horse, the message could be delayed or worse.

In the late 1700s mail coaches began to run, where a regular route was set up and people paid to put their packages and mail on the route. Again, depending on which coach you went with and how the run was laid out, this could work well or be totally inappropriate. Many people still relied on hiring personal delivery for their packages. Letter writing was for serious situations only.

This all changed in 1840 with the very first stamp, the Penny Black, which is detailed in a past article.