Charlotte May Pierstorff (May 12, 1908 – April 25, 1987) was shipped alive through the
United States postal system by
parcel post
Parcel post is a postal service for mail that is too heavy for normal letter post. It is usually slower than letter post. The development of the parcel post is closely connected with the development of the railway network which enabled parcels to ...
on February 19, 1914.
After the incident, parcel post regulations were changed to prohibit the
shipment of humans.
In 1997,
Michael O. Tunnell wrote a children's book, ''Mailing May'', revolving around May's childhood.
Mailing
On February 19, 1914, then five-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed from
Grangeville, Idaho
Grangeville is the largest city in and the county seat of Idaho County, Idaho, United States, in the north central part of the state. Its population was 3,141 at the 2010 census, down from 3,228 in 2000.
Geography
According to the United Sta ...
to
Lewiston, Idaho to visit her grandmother C. G. Vennigerholz, as this was cheaper than buying a train ticket. Charlotte, who weighed at the time, rode in the mail car with a 32¢ stamp on her coat ().
Leonard Mochel, May's mother's cousin and railway postal clerk, accompanied her during the trip and delivered her to her grandmother's house.
This event indirectly caused the United States Post Office to bar all humans and live animals from mail delivery with the exception of bees, day-old poultry and a few other exceptions.
[ Publication 52 - Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail. ]
References
External links
Postal Museum page
{{morecat, date=September 2021
1908 births
1987 deaths