'The Penny Black' in stamp history

JAKARTA (JP): Stamps were first issued in Great Britain on May 6, 1840. The first two British stamps issued are known as "The Penny Black" and each had a value of 2 pence.

The idea to use stamps came from an Englishman named Sir Rowland Hill, in response to the ineffectiveness of the postal service at the time. Before 1840 a number of countries had organized regular postal services but the mailing cost was still paid in cash.

The cash was to be paid by the sender before the dispatch of a letter, however, there were also cases when the payment had to be covered by the addressee. Prepayment for mail did not guarantee safe delivery. As a result, people preferred to pay afterwards. Post payment of mail allowed senders to take advantage of the situation by writing the news along with the address on the envelope. The addressee, having obtained the information without opening the letter, refused to receive it. Therefore the charge could not be collected from the addressee. This happened so often that the British Postal Service suffered considerable losses. To overcome the problem it was decided that the cost of mail had to be paid by the sender.

By using pieces of paper now known as stamps, the method of payment for mail became more practical and simpler. It was an administrative revolution opening a new era of postal tariffing.

The U.S. post office issued its first stamp in 1847. The stamps had the pictures of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was the first U.S. director general of post. Then stamps were introduced by Brazil, Mauritius and Switzerland. By 1860 nearly every country had adopted stamps as a tool of paying to post a letter.

-- Lila Fitri Aly