In order for a letter, document or parcel to arrive safely at its destination, postal packaging becomes essential to cushion impacts, provide clear addresses and instructions to postal workers and indicate the existence of any fragile objects in the package.

Cardboard boxes such as the corrugated Regular Slotted Container are an essential part of this, as they provide structural rigidity, stackability and enough robustness for a box to reach its destination.

This is important, as this could be the end of a journey that spans thousands of miles using multiple modes of transport, from delivery vans to trains to even aeroplanes.

Most modern airmail services are delivered in bulk on huge transcontinental cargo planes as part of a dynamic worldwide hybrid transportation system, but at one point airmail was its own class of delivery service with its own fleet of planes and service criteria.

Par Avion

Airmail has existed for over two centuries via balloon, and for thousands of years if pigeon mail counts as well, but found a perfect form of transportation starting in 1911.

On 17th February, an unofficial airmail flight took place in California, and the day after this an official flight took place from Prayagraj (then known as Allahabad) just over eight miles to its twin city Naini.

However, the rapid developments in aircraft throughout the following decade meant that airmail went from a glorified pigeon post-esque curiosity to a major practical reality, often operating alongside Zeppelin mail carried via airship.

A month after the end of the First World War, the Royal Air Force established the first international airmail service, with Aeropostale following suit on Christmas Day 1918.

This is where the development of dedicated mail planes became incredibly important; as early aircraft could not carry heavy cargo, airmail was split into the conventional post carried by airship and express delivery services carried in much smaller biplanes.

These aircraft such as the Avro 627 Mailplane carried official emblems that made it clear that they carried post and were carrying it to further destinations faster than was conceivable at the time.

The golden age of the dedicated mail plane lasted from the late 1910s up until the late 1940s. Part of this was due to the rise of the airliner and the ability to carry post in bulk on large aircraft rather than the faster but more expensive and relatively inefficient mail plane route.

It was an outcome similar to the Pony Express; whilst it was a remarkably fast service for the time, one that proved to be evocative of a cavalier age, it ultimately was neither fast enough nor efficient enough when the world changed around it.

This is part of the answer, but another part could be explained by a very specific incident and major scandal in one of the world’s biggest airmail hubs.

Spoils Conference

The United States airmail service was operated first by the Army in May 1918 before quickly being taken over by the Post Office in August of the same year, using modified Standard JR-1B and other war-surplus planes to make the service possible.

By the 1920s, the centralised airmail system had given way to privatisation and the awarding of airlines to specific routes with guaranteed subsidies.

This led to issues where some carriers started to fly junk mail or heavy freight to take advantage of how the cost per mile was organised by weight and not space.

This led to a series of meetings later dubbed the “Spoils Conference” led by Postmaster General Walter Brown, where major airlines of the era were given preferential treatment for the three transcontinental mail routes across America.

This led to accusations of collusion and fraud between the major airlines and the US Government under President Herbert Hoover, and after he lost the 1932 Presidential Election, an investigation by journalist Fulton Lewis Jr. expanded into a major political scandal.

By 1934, the fiasco had gotten to the point that President Franklin D Roosevelt signed an executive order to immediately cancel all airmail contracts, having army pilots fly the service whilst a tender process could be organised.

This ultimately turned out to be a disaster, as the Army’s unfamiliarity with postal routes and procedure after over a decade of privately-run airmail, combined with limited budgets and unseasonably dangerous weather conditions led to tragedy.

In just 78 days of operation, there were 66 accidents and 13 deaths, leading to a halt to the Army Airmail service and a major restructuring of the system.

Mail planes flew after this, but the scandal loomed large for years. Had it not occurred, mail planes may have evolved along with the airmail service.