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The American mail and cargo system leading the world

From early colonial times, the delivery of letters was in hands of those who travelled to other places. Friends, acquaintances or merchants could be the ones in charge of taking messages among the colonies and the mother country, England. Under the need of an official entity that may help the colonists in this issue, Massachusetts was thefirst location on taking the European example and it designated coffee houses or taverns as official repositories of mail brought from or sent overseas. Some post offices were set in some northern colonies with established short routes that they used at least once a month. One of them was the Old Boston Post Road, which is part of the nowadays Route 1.
In official terms, the first postal service inAmerica began in 1692, sponsored by the British Crown, and it was run by Andrew Hamilton (in the territory). Later, this office would name Benjamin Franklin as postmaster of Philadelphia and the Crown would assign him as Postmaster General for the colonies. During this period of time, the delivery service improved widely with a new reorganization by means of inspecting the routes, creating newones or carrying mail during the night. The service was already operating from Maine to Florida and from New York to Canada.
A conflict of major interests began in the colonies. American’s spirit of revolution was increasing and the Revolutionary War was starting. The Crown dismissed Franklin from his position. Nevertheless, a Constitutional Post was created and British resources and directionbecame needless. With the separation from England, during the 2nd Continental Congress, Benjamin Franklin was appointed as Postmaster General:
“… a Postmaster General be appointed for the United States, who shall hold his office at Philadelphia, and shall be allowed a salary of 1,000 dollars per annum . . . ."
Accordingly, the United States Post Office was created and it established the basis ofthe postal service until nowadays. In 1892 it became the Post Office Department.
Congress, in 1781, ratified the Articles of Confederation including Article IX "The sole and exclusive right and power . . . establishing and regulating post offices from one State to another . . . and exacting such postage on papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the saidoffice . . . .” 
An important role of the Post Office is the fact of being pioneers in the field of means of transportations. They acted as experiment rats when trying a new model for transport. The huge impact this would bring to American progress and culture would affect all its identity. Not only deliveries became faster, but communication, access and travels improved greatly and brought peoplecloser. By 1838 navigable waters and railroads were declared post roads by Congress. In 1901 the Post Office made its first car route and in 1914 they signed “the first government-owned motor vehicle service at Washington, D.C”
On the other side, going back to the 19th century, the great flow of people going to western territories was increasing. With the trails and the golden fever, the PostOffice started to send mail to California and other Pacific Coast areas. However, the journey was quite complicated (it lasted from three to four weeks) and the deliveries almost never arrived to its destination. A man named William Russell put an end to this with Leavenworth & Pike Peak’s Express Company, by building new stations, gathering animals and recruiting riders. In 1860 the Pony Expressstarted to run through the southwest territory, from Missouri to California, as a private entity. Messages were carried by horseback riders who stayed in different stations. The work was faster and effective. It ended with the transcontinental telegraph line 18 months later.
In the mid 1960’s, the Congress realized that mail had been delivered almost the same way for over 100 years, despite...