In this, he proposed a uniform postage rate of 1d, — One Penny — which would lead to an increase in correspondence and the virtual abolition of attempts to evade the postage. At this time, an indoor servant would be earning twenty-five pounds a year, that is about ten shillings a week.
Rowland Hill argued that distance had little bearing on the cost of conveying a letter. He pointed out that a very important factor in the cost was that the letters which were not pre-paid had to be personally delivered to collect the postage. The letter carriers may sometimes have had to make five or six calls until they could deliver the letter and collect the money - which was a waste of time.
Sometimes the addressee would refuse to accept the letter. Because of the high cost, many frauds were common. One was that the writer would put a code marking on the outside of the letter, so that when it was delivered, the addressee would see the code mark, understand the message from the sender, and so refuse delivery.
Rowland Hill suggested that by using a specially designed adhesive label to pre-pay the postage, huge labour costs would be saved. Later in the Select Committee of Postage was set up and by one vote only, they recommended that Parliament adopt Hill's scheme. There are so many other ways to gladden our friends' hearts.
Meanwhile, the average office worker gets well over emails a day. We no longer need societies to promote the diffusion of useful knowledge - we need better ways to distil it. But the economists who researched the link between post offices and patents argue the 19th Century postal service does have a lesson to teach us today: namely, that "government policy and institutional design have the power to support technological progress".
So what current blemishes and defects in these areas might be holding progress back? The author writes the Financial Times's Undercover Economist column. Why India is furious about a set of stamps.
In pictures: years of Royal Mail. How did 12 million letters a week reach soldiers in WW1? Modern postcodes are 50 years old. The politics of stamps. Image source, Getty Images. People found workarounds. Managing the managers: The rise of the business 'philosopher-kings' The retail revolution: How mail order changed middle-class life How the invention of paper changed the world Tick tock: The importance of knowing the right time. Hill's solution was a bold two-step reform.
A Penny Post dispatch arrives at Waterloo Station. Hill was more than years ahead of him. The first Penny Black stamp proof sheet, featuring Queen Victoria in profile. Image source, Alamy. The Swiss "Basel Dove" stamp printed in was the world's first three-coloured stamp. Prospectors outside the post office in San Francisco during the California gold rush in We need Hill's successors to tell us. Related Topics. Published 29 September Within a year the colour of the label was changed to red-brown the Penny Red and the cancellation to black.
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