When parents used postal service to mail children: The bizarre practice and why did it stop

In a bizarre chapter of early 20th-century America, parents mailed their children via postal service between 1913 and 1915. Leveraging new parcel post rules, families sent youngsters, some with stamps affixed, to relatives. This practice, driven by trust in mail carriers and cost savings, ended when postal authorities banned it due to safety concerns.

When parents used postal service to mail children: The bizarre practice and why did it stop
In a bizarre chapter of early 20th-century America, parents mailed their children via postal service between 1913 and 1915. Leveraging new parcel post rules, families sent youngsters, some with stamps affixed, to relatives. This practice, driven by trust in mail carriers and cost savings, ended when postal authorities banned it due to safety concerns.