Systems at Work - How the Postal Service Moves the Mail

Last December the National Postal Museum opened a new permanent exhibit titled "Systems at Work" that explains how the postal service moves the mail.

According to the museum, "The exhibit recreates the paths of letters, magazines, parcels, and other pieces of mail as they have traveled from sender to recipient over the past 200 years. In 1808, a stagecoach carries newspapers and the latest news to people hundreds of miles away. Two hundred years later, the integration of ZIP Codes™, bar codes, intelligent mail, automated sorting machines, and advanced technologies enable the U.S. Postal Service to process and deliver mail to 150 million homes and businesses across the country."

It goes on to say, "At the exhibit’s core is a 270-degree high-resolution film experience that puts visitors into the middle of the mammoth world of a mail-processing center, surrounded by examples of automated machinery that moves mail through the system at astonishing speeds."

To learn more and watch the 9-minute and 30-second film, click here.

To view the exhibit on line, click here.