Airmail - how does it work?

[FairyFoot]

As a penpaller and Postcrosser, I send a lot of international mail, and am surprised sometimes how quick the postcards can arrive. So, how does it actually work?

Today, I posted a letter to USA (Arizona), and it caught the 5pm collection, and off to Chester it goes (I think this is where post from North Wales goes to). So, where does it go from there?

I've sent postcards to Finland, Romania and other European countries, and they've arrived in 2 days, even one to the USA (California) arrived in 2 days too. And when "that" volcano spewed out stuff, many postcards to Western Europe still only took 2 days.

[POSTMAN]

2 days from north london to south london is a miracle,let alone overseas!

[Patrick Clifton]

Planes, trains & automobiles

Its was actually quite interesting for me the logistics that goes into the distribution of the mail across the UK once I started to learn about it.

[SpacePhoenix]

Planes, trains & automobiles

Its was actually quite interesting for me the logistics that goes into the distribution of the mail across the UK once I started to learn about it.

Within the UK has been shown a couple of times in the UK, once I think was a Top Gear episode the other was on either Discovery or Nat Geo

[Lounge Lizard]

Planes, trains & automobiles

Its was actually quite interesting for me the logistics that goes into the distribution of the mail across the UK once I started to learn about it.

Has the internal airmail network been reduced in recent years ?

[Straight4ward]

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

The arrangements for delivering mail between countries in the earliest centuries of postal service is uncertain. By the 16th century provision for service was by treaty. Postal treaties stipulated how delivery of mail was to be made between one country and another and at what rates. Accounting between two different postal systems was based on the amounts due on letters. (Costs at that time were generally paid by the addressee, not the sender.) As time went by, the treaties became very complicated because of differences in national rates, currencies, and charges for units of weight.

International delivery had become so complex by the mid-19th century that in 1862 the United States suggested reform. Little was done immediately because of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. By the early 1870s a plan had been prepared by a member of the North German Postal Confederation. The Swiss government summoned a conference at Bern to consider the proposals. It met in 1874 and was attended by representatives of 22 countries all European nations, except for Egypt and the United States. The outcome of the conference was a treaty establishing a General Postal Union. The name was changed to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1878.

The UPU is based on five principles. (1) For the purposes of postal communication, all member nations form a single geographic territory. Every member binds itself to transmit the mail entrusted to it by every other member. (2) Postage rates and weights shall be approximately uniform. (3) Postal correspondence is grouped in three categories letters, postcards, and other matter. (4) A definite schedule of payments is made to countries whose transportation services are used to deliver mail from one nation to another. (5) There is a universal system of registration and compensation for loss or damage.

In 1878 an international money-order system was adopted by the UPU. In 1885 a parcel-post agreement was made by 19 UPU countries. The scope of the parcel-post delivery system was later expanded.

The UPU has international headquarters in Bern. It serves as an information and consultation center and as a clearinghouse for settling accounts. There is a conference of members every five years to review the functioning of the UPU. In 1948 the union became a specialized agency of the United Nations.

[POSTMAN]

S4W you posted a while back the way the cost things works,can you remember what it was.

[FairyFoot]

In "shock". I posted many postcards on Monday in a Tesco's post box at around 2pm. This morning, I get an email before 10am saying that one postcard has arrived - Poland! Less than 36 hours! That's my record!