Local posts are postal services that operate in a limited area, offering faster delivery rates and lower operating costs. They originated in London in the late 1600s and are most commonly offered in small towns. Private courier services may replace local mail in countries with centralized postal services.
A local post is a postal service that operates in a limited area, such as a specific city or region. These services often have lower operating costs and faster delivery rates than centralized postal routes, making them attractive to consumers. Several nationalized postal services continue to offer tracked services, and private companies in some countries also carry mail by local post, in countries where private mail and parcel handling is permitted.
The origins of the local post appear to lie in London in the late 1600s when the Penny Post was introduced. Residents of the City of London could send materials via Penny Post if traveling within the confines of London. Penny Post was often cheaper than sending mail via other postal routes and had the advantage of being fast, because materials sent via Penny Post were handled differently than direct mail to the rest of England.
Residents of many small communities may notice that PO Boxes sometimes have two slots, one for local mail and one for out-of-town mail. The former is taken to the local office, sorted and delivered within a day in most cases. In contrast, out-of-town mail is usually sent to a central processing depot for handling. If your local mail ends up in your out-of-town mailbox, it can take several days to get home.
Scaled postage rates for local mail reflect the fact that it is less resource-intensive than out-of-town mail. Not all post offices offer these rates; the United States Postal Service, for example, has a flat rate for letters, whether they travel across the street or across the country. In some cases, local mail can come with same-day delivery, if a community has afternoon delivery and local items are delivered within a specified time.
In countries where mail handling is handled only by a central post office, private courier and mailing services may arise which replace the local mail. Courier services usually charge a premium for delivery, local or otherwise, as opposed to the lower rates of the traditional service. Local postal services are most commonly offered in small towns, where the task of sorting local mail won’t become too onerous. Larger cities tend to send all mail to central processing facilities because the high volume makes even local-only mail overwhelming.
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