MR ZIP US MAIL ZIPPY USPS MAN POST OFFICE PIN postal po

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eBay's largest sellers use AuctionLynxx to increase sales... shouldn't you? MR ZIP US MAIL ZIPPY USPS MAN POST OFFICE PIN postal po Photo Click Image for Larger Preview Description MINT PERFECT CONDITION OLD BRASS U.S. MAIL MR ZIP PIN WITH CLASP...FOUND IN A BOX IN STORAGE FOR OVER 20 YEARS. MADE IN RHODE ISLAND USA, PROBABLY IN THE 60'S OR 70'S. PIN IS 1" TALL... An experimental postal zoning system had been tried in some U.S. cities even before May 4, 1943, at which time 178 of the largest urban areas received a one- or two-digit number, to be placed after the city name and indicating the postal delivery district. The 1943 plan, the District Delivery Number system, was a wartime expedient, enabling fledgling postal clerks replacing those lost to military service to sort mail easily by zone number. Two decades later, 75 percent of first-class mail in the United States was generated by a handful of large-volume mailers. The Post Office Department devised a plan to speed handling and delivery of letter mail. By the early 1960s, automatic data processing equipment was in general use in large American businesses. The POD realized that volume mailers could use the equipment to sort bulk mailings by postal code sequence, bundle it accordingly and deliver it to the post office. This method allowed mailings to bypass as many as six mail-handling steps. The ZIP code project was announced by Postmaster General J. Edward Day in November 1962, to go into effect on July 1, 1963, the 100th anniversary of free city delivery of mail in the United States. ZIP, an acronym for Zone (or Zoning, depending on which version you read) Improvement Plan, also means to move with speed and vigor. The five-digit code was to be placed after the state name in an address, rather than between the city and state names, as the old two-digit codes were. The numbers indicated the travel path of the mail piece as well as the addressee's location. The five digits of the 1963 ZIPs broke down in this way: the first numeral, 0 to 9, stood for one of the 10 national postal service areas; the second and third numbers were for the postal sectional center hub or transportation center for mail within that area; and the last two numbers were the existing local city postal zone number or a town post office. The POD hoped for volume-mailers' voluntary cooperation (t were no sorting discounts for mailers until the late 1970s), but ZIP codes also were an important step in the post office's 10-year plan for increased automation. The plan also answered a need to realign mail transport routes that relied far more on airplanes than on trucks, much less the trains of yesteryear. Postmaster General Day had been warned that the new code might be a tough sell. On an airplane trip Day was seated next to the chairman of the board of AT&T. Day mentioned the new postal project, and the AT&T executive cited public complaints following the introduction of all-digital telephone numbers and area codes. AT&T offered the POD both advice and a cartoon symbol created by Harold Wilcox, art director for a New York City ad firm. AT&T named the character "Mr. P.O. Zone." Postal officials rechristened him Mr. Zip, and a star was born. Philatelic writer Belmont Faries described the launching of the ZIP program as one of the most intensive promotion campaigns the nation had ever seen "aside from war bonds." The scrawny, bug-eyed Mr. Zip was on announcements mailed to 72 million addresses, on buttons worn by 50,000 window clerks, on uniforms of 125,000 letter carriers and decals on 400,000 mailboxes. Ethel Merman belted out a Mr. Zip song aired on radio nationwide. Mr. Zip made the newspapers, magazines, television and billboards. To this day, the little fellow is a revered figure in advertising history. Changing Times magazine wrote in 1968 that most trademarks and symbols take years to be recognized, but that in less than five years surveys showed that 80 percent of the public knew what Mr. Zip stood for. The magazine said that he was "right up the... read more

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