In 1863, on the initiative of the United States, representatives of 15 postal administrations met in Paris to consider the problem of standardizing international postal practices. Gradually, other countries introduced adhesive stamps, and their use spread to international mail. If the addressee could not pay, the letter was returned. Until that year, the postal fee based on distance was often very high and was not paid by the sender but by the addressee. The use of postage stamps for prepayment of postage was not introduced until 1840, when the United Kingdom established a unified postage charge, the famous penny rate, to be paid by the sender of a letter regardless of the distance it had to travel. CREATIONĪlthough generally taken for granted, present-day postal service is of relatively recent origin. Under the Constitution, UPU member countries form a single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of letter-post items, and freedom of transit is guaranteed throughout the entire territory of the Union. Since 190 countries now come under these Acts, the provisions affect virtually the entire world population. The orderly and economical movement of international mail is made possible by the Constitution and Convention of the Universal Postal Union, the basic Acts under which the UPU operates. To handle this traffic, postal services employ more than 6 million employees who work at or out of some 700,000 permanent post office outlets around the globe. In addition, each day, close to 20 million pieces of mail cross international boundaries, accounting for nearly 7.4 billion items posted in international service (over a third of them by developing countries) and are swiftly and safely delivered to their destinations. Every day, more than 1.2 billion letters are posted for delivery within national borders, accounting for more than 430 billion letters each year.
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