Stamps
Postage Stamps first came into being in the UK after it was decided it might be more sensible for the sender of a letter to be responsible for paying for its delivery rather than the recipient, as had previously been the case. The first of the world’s stamps was the Penny Black, issued on 1 May, 1840.
The popularity of using Stamps to send letters through the post led to a surge in mailings and other countries around the globe were soon producing their own versions. Stamp designs have varied over the years with different countries adopting different methods of manufacture.
Once the most popular way of paying for the shipment of letters and other packages, Stamps have gradually fallen out of favour as meter machines provide a more economic as well as less time consuming way of sending out mail. The advent of bulk mailings and direct mail has also meant that stamps have become impractical for a number of postal purposes.
Direct-mail-info.co.uk explains in more detail the way in which mass mailings have changed the ways that large businesses deal with sending out their correspondence.
The advent of electronic mail has also helped the demise of Stamps as more of us turn to the internet as a far quicker and easier way to communicate. A proliferation of devices through which to communicate with each other through cyberspace means that a trip to the local post office to pick up a sheet of perforated, sticky-backed Stamps seems somewhat outdated.