Uniform Penny Post
The Uniform Penny Post was the British postal reform introduced on January 10, 1840, following Rowland Hill's proposals, which set a single prepaid rate of one penny for a letter of up to half an ounce sent anywhere in Great Britain and Ireland.
What happened and why it matters
The Penny Post introduced prepaid postage at a simple published rate, the foundation of how mail and parcel postage is bought today. Before 1840, letters were priced by distance and number of sheets, and the recipient often paid. Hill argued that handling, not distance, drove most of the cost, so a low uniform rate would raise volume, and the number of letters sent in the UK more than doubled in the first year. The Penny Black, the first adhesive postage stamp, came into use on May 6, 1840. Flat-rate boxes and prepaid shipping labels follow directly from this reform.
People
Related events
Sources
- Penny Post en.wikipedia.org
- Sir Rowland Hill britannica.com