October 9 - World Post Day

In many countries around the world, October 9 marks the World Post Day. The history of the birth of this holiday goes back to 1874, when a treaty was signed in the Swiss city of Bern, which approved the formation of the General Postal Union. Later this organization changed its name to the Universal Postal Union. At the XIV UPU Congress, held in Ottawa in 1957, decided to announce the establishment of the World Week of Writing, which is to be held the week that falls on October 9.

Officially, the approval of the World Post Day on October 9 was announced at a meeting of the UPU Congress, which was held in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, in 1969. And since that time in many countries October 9 is known as a holiday, when World Post Day is celebrated. Later this holiday was included in the register of United Nations International Days.

The Universal Postal Union is one of the most representative international organizations to date. The UPU includes 192 postal administrations, which form a common postal space. This is the largest delivery network in the world. More than 6 million employees are employed in 700 thousand post offices around the world. Each year, these workers deliver more than 430 billion items to different countries. It is interesting that in the United States the postal service is the largest employer in the country, employing about 870,000 people.

World Post Day - events

The purpose of celebrating World Post Day is to popularize and promote the role of postal organizations in our life, as well as the contribution of the postal sector to the overall development of a country.

Every year, the World Post Day is dedicated to a certain topic. For example, in 2004 the celebration was held under the motto of the ubiquitous distribution of postal services, the slogan in 2006 was "UPU: in every city and for all".

In more than 150 countries around the world, various events take place on World Post Day. For example, in Cameroon in 2005, a football match was held between mail employees and employees of another company. Week of the letter is timed to various philatelic events: exhibitions, issue of new postage stamps, timed to the World Mail Day. To this holiday, envelopes of the first day are issued - these are special envelopes, on which postage stamps are extinguished on the day of their issue. The so-called quenching of the first day, also of interest to philatelists, is held.

In 2006, an exhibition opened in Arkhangelsk, Russia called "The Letter-Sleeve". In Transnistria on World Post Day the correspondence was canceled. In Ukraine, flights of unusual parachute and balloon mail were conducted. At the same time, each envelope was decorated with special stickers and stamps.

In 2007, in several branches of the Russian Post, the winners of the contest were rewarded, the participants of which were to present drawings of postage stamps.

Postal organizations of many countries of the world use the World Post Day to promote new postal services and products. On this day in many postal departments awards are held for employees who are most distinguished in the performance of their work.

In post offices around the world, as part of the celebration of the Day of Mail, an open day, professional seminars and conferences are held. Various sports, cultural and entertainment events are timed to this day. In some postal administrations, the practice of issuing special postal gifts, for example, T-shirts, commemorative badges, etc., has been practiced. And some countries even declared World Post Day a day off.