post office

The word "mail" comes from Polish. poczta and ital. posta . The latter, in turn, arose from ( posta ) and Late Lateena posita , which is most likely an abbreviation from statio posita in ... - a stop, a station for variable horses located in a specific place ^[1] . Thus, originally this word meant a station for the exchange of postal horses or couriers . The word post in the meaning of "mail" was first used in the XIII century. Today, the word "mail" means the establishment of a post office ( post office , department ), and a message, and a set of received correspondence ^{[2] [3] [4]} .

Historically, mail arose from the need for forwarding between the sender and recipient of messages and things (goods, parcels, money).

A special branch of historical science, the history of mail, deals with the development of postal communication. Over the long history of mankind, the methods and means of transmitting information have undergone a significant evolution. The use of the simplest signals (voice, fire, and smoke) in the prehistoric era was replaced by the organization of the postal message with the help of foot and horse messengers in slave-owning states. Under feudalism and capitalism , regular national and international postal services emerged using horse, and then rail, air and other forms of communication. Postal reforms on an international scale based on bilateral and multilateral treaties between the ASO ultimately led to the organization of a single postal system (UPU) based on a single treaty system in the form of the Convention and the UPU Regulations.

Modern mail is a global system of enterprises of different states united by an international treaty (see documents of the UPU of the last congress). All mail companies engaged in the international service of postal services are monopolists.

With the development of the Internet, some analysts predicted a quick stagnation of the postal services market, however, this did not happen. Postal enterprises of different states, previously unprofitable, are planned to be privatized.

Germany Post, called Deutsche Bundespost , was privatized in 1995 and divided into Deutsche Post AG , Deutsche Telekom AG and Deutsche Postbank AG . Also, there are other private firms that provide postal services ^[5] .

At the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, postal communication remained the most widespread and cheap type of communication. Despite the creation and rapid development of automated telecommunication systems, radio communications, telephone and electronic communications, postal communications will remain of great importance in the foreseeable future; since the movement of material objects (goods, things, etc.) is impossible when using electromagnetic types of communication.

Mail business is not a type of communication or transport company contrary to the existing household concepts. Mail - an enterprise that moves mail in real form, which does not make it a mode of transport. Mail - an enterprise that uses various types of electromagnetic communications to transmit messages; what doesn't make her kind of connection .

The main feature of the post - a natural monopoly in the market. Mail offers consumers a variety of mail services on a universal service basis and at all service levels. Mail implies uniform tariffs and uniform rules for access to mailing services for all consumers (regardless of whether the consumer is a private or legal person; and also citizenship, age status of an individual) .

Russia

In Russia, mail is managed by ASO. As a single enterprise, the post office operates through executive structures (main post offices, provincial post offices, transport services and sorting centers. In turn, city and district post offices and communication centers are subordinate to post office and post offices. Regional offices are subordinate to post offices. Russian Post is a single enterprise where the ASO plays a special role. Postal activity, which is the production and sale of postal works, goods and services The licenses are licensed: a general license for the production of a single work package and a variety of licenses for each type of postal service. The licenses have the properties of indivisibility and non-transferability; obeys the Rules for the provision of postal services (USPS), which are established by the Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications ^[6]

Belorussia

Ukraine

Kirghizia

Traditionally, to pay for mailings (letters, postcards, simple and customized parcels ), postage stamps of various denominations are used , which are pasted directly on the parcel or its packaging in accordance with the shipping tariff .

For more convenience, the postal authorities also issue stamp envelopes , custom stamp envelopes , open and closed letters , official postcards, mail orders, postal packages, etc., with a printed payment stamp on them.

Sometimes stamps are replaced by prints of a special franking machine ( frankotypes ), where the amount of the shipping charge is printed in a special way on an envelope, or on a sheet of paper that is stuck on the package. Every month, postal employees take readings of the counter of such a machine and bill the company. This method of payment is used, above all, by mass senders of correspondence (joint-stock companies, banks , insurance companies, advertising agencies, etc.).

In some countries (in particular, in Germany, Great Britain, the USA and a number of others) a new method of payment for sending simple correspondence has appeared - via the Internet . The user pays for mail services on a special portal, and then receives a special bar code that can be printed on a home printer and pasted on an envelope. In the UK, this payment method is called SmartStamp .

So-called “prepaid” letters and postcards are also distributed in the USA and European countries. As a rule, they are used by large companies to organize "feedback" with consumers. The user is given a postcard or an envelope with the typographical details of the recipient company. The postal company issues an invoice to the recipient at the time of delivery of such correspondence.

• Universal Postal Convention
• Universal Postal Union
• Postage Sign
• Mail history
• Postman
• Post office
• Postage Stamp
• Postal office
• Postmark
• Mailbox
• CEPT - European Conference of Postal and Communication Administrations

• Large philatelic dictionary / Pod obshch. ed. N. I. Vladintsa and V. A. Jacobs. - M .: Radio and communication, 1988. - 320 p. - ISBN 5-256-00175-2 . [Cm. Articles beginning with Mail and derived from this word.]
• Mail / / Dictionary of the Russian language : 4 t. / Ch. ed. B. M. Volin , D. N. Ushakov (vol. 2-4); status G. O. Vinokur , B. A. Larin , S. I. Ozhegov , B. V. Tomashevsky , D. N. Ushakov ; by ed. D.N. Ushakov . - M .: State publishing house of foreign and national dictionaries, 1939. - Vol. 3: P - Ryashka. - 1424 stb. (Verified June 20, 2016) Archived June 20, 2016.
• Postal signs // Encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 extra.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Philatelic Dictionary / Comp. O. Ya. Bassin. - M .: Communication, 1968. - 164 p. [Cm. Articles beginning with Mail and derived from this word.]

• upu.int (English) - the official website of the Universal Postal Union.
• pochta.ru - the official site of FSUE “Russian Post”.
• postalmuseum.si.edu (English) - the official site of the National Museum of Mail (USA) .