Rural Free Delivery

Before that, people living in rural areas had to pick up mail themselves at sometimes distant post offices or pay private carriers for delivery.

The United States Post Office Department began experiments with Rural Free Delivery as early as 1890.

[5] Until the late 19th century, residents of rural areas had to travel to a designated distant post office to pick up their mail or to pay for delivery by a private carrier.

Wayne Fuller concludes that they "arrogantly served the public, rendered only mediocre service, [and] made inordinate profits."

However Sears and the other mail-order houses realized that parcel post would be to their advantage and joined the farmers in a coalition that finally overcame the local merchants and express companies.

The first routes to receive RFD during its experimental phase were in Jefferson County, West Virginia, near Charles Town; Halltown; and Uvilla.

A massive undertaking, nationwide RFD service took several years to implement, and remains the "biggest and most expensive endeavor"[12] ever instituted by the U.S.

Parcel post service allowed the distribution of national newspapers and magazines, and was responsible for millions of dollars of sales in mail-order merchandise to customers in rural areas.