The Post Awful

Fans had a love/hate relationship to the postal service. On one hand, it brought all sort of goodies like fanzines to the mailbox. On the other hand, despite the fact it provided a valuable service and often very well, fans frequently derided the very organization that provided their main method of communication. (x)

“So many zines got lost in the mail if sent via 3rd class mail. People didn’t necessarily want to pay extra for 1st class. 4th class (book rate) was pretty reliable, but back then it could be iffy because if a zine was numbered, if the post office did an inspection it would categorize a zine as a periodical, not a book. In that case it could not go via 4th class. 3rd class was for packages and was most frequently used, but it was very slow and not reliable. Packages could take anywhere from two weeks to a month - or longer - to be delivered.” - CatalenaMara (x).

Much like current fans referring to ffn.net as “the pit” and tumblr as a “hellsite,” pre-internet fans referred to the postal service with many derogatory nicknames like “The Pest Office/Post Awful/Post Offal/U.S. Snail/Postal Disservice/U.S. Maul/CENSORED!” (x)