Issue date: 25 Oct, 2006
On October 8th 1756, the first twelve postmen were appointed in Madrid. 250 years later we commemorate this event with the “Stamp Day” issue.
Until the late XVIII century, the normal way of picking up one’s mail was going to the General Post Office where a post representative read out loud the names of the addressees and displayed the lists of those who hadn’t picked up their letters. The accumulation of mail made volunteers deliver it home to the addressees in exchange for a quarter of a “real” (currency of the time),. To cut this short and improve this public service and ensure the Treasury’s income, on October 7th 1756 the following by laws where published “Ordenanzas que deben guardar el Administrador, Escribientes, Carteros y Mozo del Oficio de Cartas-sobrantes de Listas de Madrid, llamado Cartero-Mayor”.This regulation was made up of 19 rulings and decreed the appointment of twelve postmen to cope with the delivery of the mail that had not been picked up by the addressees of the twelve town boroughs. It also ruled that with the delivery of each letter postmen would receive a quarter of a “real” and that they would have to be able to read and write, live within their borough and swear an oath of loyalty to their position. These rules also said that if and addressee was away from Court, the postmen had to find out their new whereabouts and send them their letters there. The by-laws were supervised by Pedro Rodriguez Campomanes at the time legal advisor of the Post Treasury (Asesor General de la Renta de Correos y Postas) in whose presence the postmen took the oath of office on the 11th October 1756, thus the profession of postman was born. In 1798 the postmen of Madrid began to use uniform at their expense, made up of a blue coat and a red jacket with gold buttons with a border saying “Real Renta de Correos” and the word “Correos” in the middle with the corresponding number.
The organisation set up in Madrid was taken as a model for other big cities and with the development of the Postal services, postmen became increasingly more important and their activities also became subject to rules and regulations. Currently there are more than 34.000 postmen and they are the best know characters of the Post organisation.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.