Local post: Difference between revisions

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[[File:StampThule1935Michel3.jpg|thumb|upright|A local post stamp of [[Thule]], Greenland]]

A '''local post''' is a [[mail]] service that operates only within a limited geographical area, typically a [[city]] or a single transportation route. Historically, some local posts have been operated by governments, while others, known as '''private local posts''' have been for-profit companies. Today, many [[stamp collectors]] operate '''hobbyists' local posts''', issuing their own postal "stamps"{{according toknown whom?|date=Aprilas 2023}}"locals" or "[[Cinderella stamp|cinderellas]]" for other collectors but rarely carrying any mail.

==Official local posts==

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In 1865 the local post distribution company ''Liannos et Cie'' was established in Constantinople to distribute mail arriving in the city which was not addressed in Arabic as the staff of the Ottoman Postal Service were unable to read the Latin alphabet. The stamps were printed by [[Perkins Bacon]] from plates that are now held in the museum of the [[Royal Philatelic Society London]].<ref name=LP1434>"Museum & Archives News: Liannos City Post", ''[[The London Philatelist]]'', Vol. 125, No. 1433, March 2016, p. 110.</ref> In 1866 a second service was set up on behalf of the Egyptian post office operating in the city to solve the same problem. Both services were short lived.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130630100310/http://www.maidenheadphilatelic.co.uk/index_files/levant.htm The Local Mail Stamps of the British Levant] by Tony Stanford, Maidenhead & District Philatelic Society, 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2012.</ref>

In 1895, W. Frese & Co. of San Francisco, acting as an agent of the Oceanic Phosphate Company, issued a series of postage stamps for mail carried between California at the company's guano mining operations on [[Clipperton Island]], which ended in 1898.<ref name="CIstamps">{{cite magazine |title=The Stamps of Clipperton Island |last=Baldus |first=Wolfgang |author-link=Wolfgang Baldus |journal=The Postal Gazette |volume=IV |issue=5 |date=October 2009 |page=42 |url=http://www.thepostalgazette.com/issues/26/Clipperton_Stamps.pdf |access-date=2023-04-10 |archive-date=2019-06-06 |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20190606083740/http://www.thepostalgazette.com/issues/26/Clipperton_Stamps.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2013, ''Welly Post'' was established as a private carrier of local mail by EJ Teare Newsagents in Wellington, Somerset, United Kingdom. Local delivery was limited to the village of Wellington and 2 {{frac|1|2}} miles outside the village. The service was established after customers complained about the high price of postage.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Somerset-newsagent-sets-Welly-Post-customers/story-20348613-detail/story.html |title=Somerset newsagent sets up 'Welly Post' after customers complain about the Royal Mail - Western Morning News |publisher=westernmorningnews.co.uk |author=Western Morning News |date=Dec 20, 2013 |accessdate=2014-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020140608/http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Somerset-newsagent-sets-Welly-Post-customers/story-20348613-detail/story.html |archive-date=2014-10-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2012, Penny Farthing Post in [[Bude]], Cornwall, England, operated a mail service for Bude, Stratton, and Poughill delivering post on a [[penny farthing]] bicycle for 25 pence. Graham Eccles printed his own stamps and set up the service in response to the [[Royal Mail]] raising postage stamp prices to 60 pence.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2012-04-04 |title=Post delivered by penny-farthing in Bude |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-17607089 |access-date=2023-06-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cunningham |first=Emily |date=2012-04-22 |title=Look out, Royal Mail – it's Penny Farthing Post! |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/shortcuts/2012/apr/22/royal-mail-penny-farthing-post |access-date=2023-06-27 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Closed June 2012, due to excessive volumes of post.

In 2013, ''Welly Post'' was established as a private carrier of local mail by EJ Teare Newsagents in [[Wellington, Somerset]], United KingdomEngland. Local delivery was limited to the village of Wellington and 2 {{fracconvert|12.5|2mi|km}} miles outside the village. The service was established after customers complained about the high price of postage.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Somerset-newsagent-sets-Welly-Post-customers/story-20348613-detail/story.html |title=Somerset newsagent sets up 'Welly Post' after customers complain about the Royal Mail - Western Morning News |publisher=westernmorningnews.co.uk |author=Western Morning News |date=Dec 20, 2013 |accessdate=2014-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020140608/http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Somerset-newsagent-sets-Welly-Post-customers/story-20348613-detail/story.html |archive-date=2014-10-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Private local posts of the United States==

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===Independent Postal System of America===

In 1968, Thomas M. Murray (1927–2003) founded the Independent Postal System of America (IPSA)<ref name="wichitastampclub1">{{cite web|url=http://www.wichitastampclub.org/IPSA.html |title=Independent Postal System of America |publisher=Wichitastampclub.org |accessdate=2008-10-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517115720/http://www.wichitastampclub.org/IPSA.html |archivedate=May 17, 2006 }}</ref> as a nationwide commercial carrier of Third and Fourth Class Mail,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838569,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213144749/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838569,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 13, 2009 |title=A New Postman Cometh - TIME |publisher=[[Time.com (magazine)|Time]] |date=Aug 16, 1968 |accessdateaccess-date=2008-10-26}}</ref> in direct competition with the United States Post Office (USPO), now the United States Postal Service (USPS).<ref name="wichitastampclub1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://alphabetilately.org/L.html |title=Alphabetilately: L is for Local stamp |publisher=Alphabetilately.org |date= |accessdate=2008-10-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,907081,00.html |title=The Private Postmen - TIME |publisher=Jcgi.pathfinder.com |date=Apr 2, 1973 |accessdate=2008-10-26 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> But in 1971, when the company entered the First Class delivery business, they endured a number of lawsuits brought against them, which finally led to the company's collapse in the mid-1970s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.altlaw.org/v1/cases/431768 |title=CIO v. Independent Postal System of America |publisher=AltLaw |date= |accessdate=2009-02-01}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://wyom.state.wy.us/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=133203 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061111011235/http://wyom.state.wy.us/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=133203 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-11-11 |title=WYOM Found Document:National Ass'n of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO v. Independent Postal System of America, Inc |publisher=Wyom.state.wy.us |accessdate=2009-02-01 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://casetext.com/case/american-post-wkrs-u-detroit-v-independent-post-ser |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331205904/https://casetext.com/case/american-post-wkrs-u-detroit-v-independent-post-ser |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 31, 2017 |title=American Postal Workers Union, Detroit Local v. Independent Postal System of America, Inc. |publisher=AltLaw |date= |accessdate=2017-03-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://vlex.com/vid/36771812 |title=National Association of Letter Carriers, Afl-Cio, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Independent Postal System of America, Incorporated, and Thomas M... |publisher=vLex |date= |accessdate=2009-02-01}}</ref> The company issued a number of stamps during the years of its operation, including commemoratives for [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Sanford L. Byrd Collection - Martin Luther King Part V |url=http://esperstamps.org/sanford6.htm |publisher=Ebony Society of Philatelic Events and Reflections |accessdate=2009-01-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908063629/http://esperstamps.org/sanford6.htm |archivedate=2008-09-08 }}</ref> and [[Charles Lindbergh]] before the USPS did.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Brief History of IPSA (Independent Postal System of America) |url=http://www.dmacweb.com/IPSA/HistoryIPSA.pdf |author=Hanfelder, Art |accessdate=2017-03-09 |archive-date=2017-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312075558/http://www.dmacweb.com/IPSA/HistoryIPSA.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Rattlesnake Island===

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Today's local posters issue their local post "stamps", and issue a variety of commemorative "stamps" covering a wide range of events or personal interests, of subjects that are not normally issued by their own countries' postal services.

In some cases these modern-day local posts have issued stamp subjects before their own country issued the same subject. The Free State Local Post issued an [[Audie Murphy]] stamp long before the US Postal Service issued one of the same subject. The Ascension AAF Local Post,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spacecovers.com/misc/asc_lp_info.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714043435/http://spacecovers.com/misc/asc_lp_info.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 14, 2012 |title=ASCENSION AAF Local Post Information Sheet - Joe Frasketi's Space Covers |publisher=Spacecovers.com |date= |accessdate=2008-10-26}}</ref> located on the island of Ascension in the South Atlantic Ocean, in 1972 commemorated the anniversary of the first aircraft to land at Ascension Island. This same subject was commemorated by the Ascension Island postal system in 1982.

This sort of local post is effectively a "home-brewed" postal system, and the typical hobbyist carries little, if any, mail (though some do carry mail over a short distance for themselves or a few people).

The Local Post Collectors' Society established in 1972, coordinates communication among local posters. The LPCS issues a regular bulletin ''The Poster'' to its members around the world, relating stories of local posts, showing new issues and other related items.<ref>{{cite web |date= |title=Local Post Collectors Society |url=httphttps://www.localcollectorspostlocalpostcollectors.org/ |titleaccessdate=2023-06-12 |website=Local Post Collectors Society |publisher=localcollectorspostlocalpostcollectors.org|date= |accessdate=2008-10-26}}</ref>

==References==

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==External links==

{{Commons category|Local postspost}}

*[http://localpostcollectors.org/ Local Post Collectors Society]

*[http://www.stampshows.com/local-post.html Local Posts of the World]

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*[https://sossi.org/local/post.htm Scout Local Posts]

[[Category:Postal systemsservices]]

[[Category:Philatelic terminology]]

[[Category:Localism (politics)]]