lost to history

National Postal Worker Day & U.S. Postage Stamp Day

Posted on July 1, 2018 Updated on July 20, 2020

Postal Worker Day Image One — Image Credit: imagesofpomona.blogspot.com

The 1st of July is a very busy day of celebration for the nation, leading up to Independence Day. It’s National Postal Worker Day, established in 1997 by a Seattle area carrier. I have two high school classmates that are postmen. They both really enjoy it. It can be a tough job, though.

If you are thinking “Neither rain nor sleet nor snow…” or something along those lines, the U.S. Post Office doesn’t have an “official” motto, really. There seems to be a bit of confusion from a modified translation of Herodotus’ quote regarding the courier service of the Persian Empire:

There is nothing in the world which travels faster than the Persian couriers. The whole idea is a Persian invention, and works like this: riders are stationed along the road, equal in number to the number of days the journey takes – a man and a horse for each day. Nothing stops these couriers from covering their allotted stage in the quickest possible time – neither snow, rain, heat, nor darkness. The first, at the end of his stage, passes the dispatch to the second, the second to the third, and so on along the line, as in the Greek torch-race which is held in honour of Hephaestus.

Postage Stamp Day Image Two — Image Credit: the-pa-in-connection.blogspot.com

It’s also U.S. Postage Stamp Day…naturally. The very first postage stamp was issued on July 1, 1847 but, no one seems to know who created the National Day for it. Lost to history, I suppose.

Also celebrated today:
National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day
National Gingersnap Day

Cheers and enjoy!

This entry was posted in History, National Days and tagged 1847, 1997, bit of confusion, celebration, courier service, creative flavors, creed, dispatch, first postage stamp, gingersnaps, greek, hephaestus, herodotus, high school classmates, history world, horse, ice cream flavors, independence day, journey, july 1, lost to history, motto, national calendar day, national calendar days, persian couriers, persian empire, post office, postage stamp, postal worker, postman, postmen, rain, riders, seattle carrier, sleet, snow, torch race, tough job, us post office.