Rural delivery service refers to the delivery of mail in what are traditionally considered rural areas. In the United States, rural letter carriers began service with the experiments with Rural Free Delivery in 1891. RFD was adopted generally in the United States in 1902, resulting in progressive closure of post offices from their peak of 76,945 in 1901 to the present number of about 36,000.
Read more about Rural Delivery Service: History, Rural Route Introduction
Famous quotes containing the words rural, delivery and/or service:
“[They] hired a large house as a receptacle for gentlewomen, who either had no fortunes, or so little that it would not support them. For these they made the most comfortable institution [and] provided [them] with all conveniences for rural amusements, a library, musical instruments, and implements for various works.”
—Sarah Fielding (17101768)
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—Charles Dickens (18121870)
“We too are ashes as we watch and hear
The psalm, the sorrow, and the simple praise
Of one whose promised thoughts of other days
Were such as ours, but now wholly destroyed,
The service record of his youth wiped out,
His dream dispersed by shot, must disappear.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)