When the U.S. Parcel Post system launched on January 1, 1913, some families quickly discovered that mailing young children cost significantly less than purchasing regular passenger train tickets. Smithsonian National Postal Museum historians found about seven recorded instances of children traveling via mail, including an Idaho girl who took a 73-mile railway trip for 53 cents while accompanied by a clerk relative. Despite postal leadership quickly issuing prohibitions against the practice, occasional child shipments persisted until a Kentucky incident prompted an official investigation later in 1915.
Key points
Initial parcel post regulations lacked explicit prohibitions against sending human beings…: Initial parcel post regulations lacked explicit prohibitions against sending human beings, enabling families to utilize the service for cheap transportation.
Children transported by mail were often accompanied by postal employees or trusted local…: Children transported by mail were often accompanied by postal employees or trusted local carriers rather than placed inside mailbags.
Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson issued formal rules forbidding child mailings, but…: Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson issued formal rules forbidding child mailings, but the practice continued until late 1915.
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Back in the olden days, travel wasn't as cheap and convenient as it is today. So, parents had to get a little creative to save a quick buck. But one child's parents took penny-pinching a bit too far.
In January 1913, Jesse and Mathilda Beagle of Ohio found an unusual way to send their eight-month-old son, James, to his grandmother's house. Instead of buying a train ticket, the couple took advantage of the newly introduced US Postal Service's Parcel Post system. They paid 15 cents in postage, insured their son for $50 and handed him over to the mail carrier for delivery. The grandmother lived only a few miles away in Batavia, making it a relatively short journey for the infant. James weighed just under 11 pounds, narrowly meeting the weight limit for parcels accepted by the postal service.
What sounds like quite a turbulent trip now, was a rather unusual interpretation of the postal service's new rules back then.
How children became parcels
When the US Postal Service introduced its Parcel Post service on January 1, 1913, Americans could…
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