Oct. 9 is the UPU’s birthday!
October 9th is a special day, its the UPU’s birthday!
The UPU (Universal Postal Union), an arm of the UN, ensures cooperation among countries over all postal related issues.
On 9 October 1874, the Universal Postal Union was established in Bern, laying the foundation for modern communication. To this day, it allows the global exchange of letters and parcels and is a cornerstone of global postal traffic.
The story of the Universal Postal Union – Swiss National Museum – Swiss history blog
The UPU predates its affiliation with the UN. It was formed in 1874 by 22 countries who were trying to overcome cross border mail and parcel delivery issues. Prior to the formation of the UPU, each country decided how to handle mail and if they would honour the postage on the letter/package. Sometimes they did; sometimes they didn’t. The fledgling UPU set up a series of agreements between participating countries establishing rules for handling foreign mail and fee sharing. Its difficult to explain, in this era of instant communications, how ground breaking the UPU was. It helped smooth out international communications and dramatically sped up the delivery of mail in a time when there were no phones let alone aircraft or the internet.
Membership in the organisation now sits at 192. Postal services around the world have issued stamps featuring the UPU over the decades, with hundreds available to collect, including a number released this year already. But, since my first love was Canadian stamps, I’ll focus on Canada’s participation.
UPU’s birthday! Enter Canada
Canada joined the UPU July 1st 1878 and quickly issued this bulletin to post masters on how to deal with international mail.
Instructions sent to all post masters across Canada regarding Canada’s entry in the UPU and how to deal with mail. Page one. Released July 15, 1878 Courtesy Archives Canada
At the May 26, 1906 Rome conference, a new method of post was ratified: “reply coupons can be exchanged between the countries of which the Administrations have agreed to participate in such an exchange””. The IRC or international reply coupons, were one of the UPU’s great advances in international communications.
The international reply coupon (IRC) allows someone sending a letter to another country to pay for the postage for the reply in advance. When the sender writes a letter to a foreign addressee that requires a response, they can purchase an IRC and enclose it with their letter. International Reply Coupons (IRCs)
Basically, The sender prepays for the return letter. All the person on the other end needed to do is walk the IRC to the nearest post office and exchange it for the appropriate postage. A common design was (and still is) used, with the name of the origin country printed at the bottom of the frame. They officially went into service October 1, 1907.
1907 IRC “Rome Design”
The coupon has now seen 21 different designs, along with different values. I was going to post the various IRCs but think that would make a smashing article, so you’ll have to wait while I have fun rampaging through archives around the world.
If you’d like to read a fine history of the UPU, Professor emeritus Madeleine Herren’s The story of the Universal Postal Union is one of the best posts I’ve read to date on the organisation. A solid read.