The history of postal mail stretches far beyond our own borders here in the United States. Across the pond, the Royal Mail Service of the UK announced they will be opening a Postal Museum and Mail Rail exhibition. While this museum will surely prove to be an educational look back at the history of mail in London, the Royal Mail Museum will also pay tribute to the little known phenomenon of cats aiding in mail service.
According to early reports, the museum will feature a display in honor of the hard working cats that made their own unique contributions to the Royal Mail Service. Believe it or not, early postmasters brought cats along as they performed their mail services to keep small rodents away.
In 1868, the Secretary of the Post Office authorized various post offices to hire cats to work in their offices. The cats were full fledged members of the mail service as they even earned a salary of sorts, a single shilling per week was allotted to feed the trio of cats. A single shilling was hardly enough to provide enough food for three cats, even in the 1800s, but the deal was that the cats would receive a raise, pending their performance. Luckily enough for the cats, their contributions to the Royal Mail service were noticed, as they officially received a raise in the 1930s.
While we don’t use cats to help maintain our mail service, you can bet we’ll work just as hard to handle your mail as they did to catch those mice. If you need a mail forwarding service that arrives where and when you need it, get in touch with our team at Forward Nevada. For more information, feel free to give us a call at (702) 220-6245.