Children Were "Mailed" — but Not Before 1913

The U.S. domestic Parcel Post service began on January 1, 1913. Because early rules had gaps, some families arranged for postal workers to accompany children to relatives—there were a few such cases, not a regular passenger service. After the first reports, postal authorities prohibited accepting children as mail. The popular claim that the law allowed this “until 1913” confuses the service's launch date with brief episodes that occurred after it began.