Anyone who has ever invented a product or sought to make a living by selling items either self made or in the retail market understands a basic need to move the product from place to place. Whether the need is a local endeavor, a nationwide event, or a global necessity, there are significant costs involved with getting the product from where it is created to the consumer who will buy it. Shipping has become a major factor in business, and controlling or managing it has become a significant part of every company.
In the not too very distant past, the cost of getting things to the marketplace was one of the least worrisome parts of engaging in business. As recently as 1970 the cost of gasoline was a mere 35 cents per gallon and that was a ten cent per gallon increase over the previous decade. Farm fuel oil was exempt from taxes and so cost as little as 11 cents per gallon. These costs have obviously skyrocketed, even when the prices are adjusted for inflation.
But the cost of getting goods around is not exclusively due to the cost of transportation. Packages require packaging, and much of that is also dependent on the price of oil, so we have double the impact on business. But in addition to these costs, the size and geography of the US has always had an impact on delivering mail and packages.
We have always had a need to communicate with one another, and in the early going the United States had an expanse that was larger than the young nation could easily handle in terms of staying in touch. The going was rough on a number of terms. The distances were unparalleled, and the exposure to the elements, animals and unfriendly indigenous peoples made cross country delivery a sporting proposition at best.
As things develop, the easiest methods were harnessed first, so people who lived in the cities began receiving official free mail service in 1863. It would be three decades before an organization representing the interests of the farming community could coerce congress into officially launching rural free delivery. But even this new service did not reach all Americans, the west was largely without service.
The quest to provide truly equal delivery of the mail to every part of the US continued as Congress designated first the waterways, then the railways official postal service. The effort was dynamic but disproportionate. Even for the areas East of St Joseph Missouri which marked the end of the early phases of the railway cities received free mail delivery, but farm areas did not. It took the effort of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry a farming advocacy group started in 1867 and 33 years to get the service started.
As it turned out, everyone survived the concept and it became so famous it appeared regularly in TV with the program known as Mayberry R. F. D. Though most fans were unaware of the meaning behind the letters. The concept of free mail delivery began to crumble in 1847 with the introduction of the postage stamp. The young nation realized they needed to find an equitable way to pay for the service and made the use of prepaid postage compulsory in 1855.
Today we take the ability to transfer packages across the nation and across the globe for granted. We even have the ability to get things delivered throughout the US overnight and anywhere in the world in just a few days. This has allowed the process of doing business to become and remain truly international. But despite all our progress, it is folly to enter into any business with carefully assessing the cost related to shipping.
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