In 1775, Benjamin Franklin became the first postmaster general in the US. On October 9th, 1874 the Universal Postal Union (UPU; Weltpostverein) was founded. Mail from the members’ countries could be delivered freely from one country to another. Since 1969, October 9th is World Post Day (Weltposttag). Their motto is to serve humanity and facilitate the communication between people.
There are no special events held, however postal services in some countries use this opportunity to introduce new stamps or draw attention to their services.
Early writing and delivery service
Writing has been around for thousands of years, different writing forms and styles have developed all over the world. We find early services of delivering messages in Ancient Persia under Cyrus the Great (around 550 BCE) and under Augustus Cesar in Rome.
When people invented writing they mostly used it for record keeping. Calculating taxes, keeping track of prices, sales, debt and so forth, you get the idea.
Some rulers, like Hammurabi of Babylonia (Mesopotamia), also had their rules written down and publicly displayed so that the rules could be read to the illiterate citizens.
But every once in a while, a clay tablet in cuneiform (wedge shaped writing) is found that contains something different: a complaint. Here copper merchant Ea-Nasir is complaining that the wrong copper was sent to him.
Delivery service under the von Taxis family
In the 16th century, the noble family von Taxis (later von Thurn und Taxis) got into the courier business and in 1516 signed a contract with King Charles of Spain (later King Charles V) that designated routes, times, and wages for couriers. A letter from Brussels to Rome now would take 12 days as opposed to 30 days.
Instead of just switching horses at designated stations (Poststationen), every 30 kilometers or so the courier would turn over the mail to another rider. That system avoided pauses and breaks that would be needed if only one person were delivering the mail. The messengers would carry a letter of protection and a post horn. That way they would be let through city gates and could signal the relay station that he was coming .
Those messengers of the Habsburg Post, run by von Taxis, were the only ones who were allowed to use the post horn and they also didn’t have to pay road tolls. While the post horn was used by others before, and from 1506 on, it developed into the symbol of the postal service. And it still is.
In England, people started using coaches to deliver mail, packages, and eventually people in the early 17th century. After the Thirty Years’ War (the second half of the 17th century), it also started to become common practice in Germany, or rather the German territories.
It seems that often the post stations where the coachmen and horses took a break were also taverns or inns. You can see it in the signpost below where the mail coach, the post horn, as well as grapes are displayed outside of an inn.
Why yellow is the color of the Deutsche Post
As you can see from the above photos, the color of the German post office is yellow. When the postal service under the von Taxis started their messengers wore yellow uniforms with black lapels because those were the colors of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations. While other areas in Europe had different colored uniforms the yellow stuck around probably because of its brightness and easy visibility.
In 1946, the Allies decided that yellow was going to be the color of the German postal service.
Hoch auf dem gelben Wagen
This popular song hasn’t actually been around that long. The text was written by Rudolf Baumbach in the 1870s with the title “Der Wagen rollt” while the melody wasn’t composed until 1922 by the pharmacist Heinz Höhne.
The song is a metaphor for life that goes on and can’t be stopped (“aber der Wagen, der rollt” – “but the wagon rolls on”). When the poem was written, the railway was on its way to replace the coaches, so it might also have a nostalgic touch of the ‘good old days’ that won’t come back.
The line “sitz ich beim Schwager vorn” actually doesn’t mean that the person is sitting next to their brother-in-law but “Schwager” is the germanized word of the French “chevalier” who is the coachman and post rider.
In 1973, Walter Scheel, then Secretary of State, sang the song on a TV show for charity. His slightly different version was in the German charts for 15 weeks. I have included his song in the youtube playlist (see below).
Another known postal songs is “Trara, die Post ist da” (Trara, the mail is here), which you can also find in the playlist, along with other songs and documentaries about the Deutsche Post
For German learners
If you are interested in brushing up on German vocabulary all about the post office, click Vokabeln rund um die Post.
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