Snail Mail - Use in History

Use in History

The term "snail mail" appears as early as 1942 in the headline of a news article about slow mail delivery. The term also appears as a sub-headline in a 1951 news article.

The term was used by the U.S. Post Office in magazine advertising in the mid to late 1960s to encourage use of zip codes. Ads for zip code use appeared in many issues of "LOOK", "Life", and, "Saturday Evening Post" magazines and displayed a caricature of a large snail outfitted as a letter carrier, with the term "Snail Mail" in bold lettering.

The term appears in a Russell Baker humor column about the slow speed of the U.S. Postal Service in 1969.

In 1974, the term was used to describe second-class mail which took longer to arrive than first class mail.

In the sense of contrasting it with electronic mail, however, Jim Rutt is purported to have first used this phrase in January 1981. Mr. Rutt later went on to become CEO of Network Solutions.