Post office

It is also uncommon for Indian post offices to sell insurance policies or accept payment for electricity, landline telephone, or gas bills.

Until the 2000 A.D., post offices would collect fees for radio licenses, recruitment for government jobs, and the operation of public call telephone (PCO) booths.

Postmen would deliver letters, money orders, and parcels to places that are within the assigned area of a particular post office.

Each Indian post office is assigned a unique six-digit code called the Postal Index Number, or PIN.

There is evidence of corps of royal couriers disseminating the decrees of Egyptian pharaohs as early as 2400 BCE, and it is possible that the service greatly precedes that date.

Similarly, there may be ancient organised systems of post houses providing mounted courier service, although sources vary as to precisely who initiated the practice.

The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis family initiated regular mail service from Brussels in the 16th century, directing the Imperial Post of the Holy Roman Empire.

The British Postal Museum claims that the oldest functioning post office in the world is on High Street in Sanquhar, Scotland.

Germany's national postage system Deutsche Post introduced the Pack-Station for package delivery, including both drop-off and pickup, in 2001.