April 3

1860

The first Pony Express mail debuted when relay teams, traveling by horse, simultaneously left St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet’s arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for speedy mail delivery.

Although ultimately short-lived and unprofitable, the Pony Express captivated America’s imagination and helped win federal aid for another overland postal system which has been long-lived and highly unprofitable.

The USPS has been so unprofitable that frequently a FedEx, UPS or other private carriers will drive their packages
down to the Post Office and mail them instead of delivering them. Some US Post Offices even have a private carrier drop box on site for companies to toss packages into. And those packages are paid for by a taxpayer subsidy.

With the advent of the first transcontinental telegraph line in October 1861, the Pony Express ceased most of its operations. Out of tradition, when a USPS employee is caught sleeping under a tree, instead of delivering packages, his defense is code 10-10 also known as "flogging the mule".