By Anna Von Reitz
Many centuries ago kings and prelates and businessmen kept their own stables of messengers who hand-carried information back and forth, either verbally or by written means, and these physical communication systems gradually developed into the Postal Services we know today--- and to this day, a postal service may either be public or private in nature.
Benjamin Franklin was the owner of one of the first private postal services serving the public in America. For a stated fee, his company would take your letter or box over the rough roads from Boston, Massachusetts, to Charleston, South Carolina, and guarantee its safe passage (insure it) so that you didn't have to make the journey yourself or send someone in your direct employment on this arduous errand.
Postal Service at that time was cheaper than doing it yourself and arguably safer and often faster than what people could afford to do for themselves, so the idea caught on and the economic advantages of being able to bundle mail going to a specific destination provided the profit needed to spur growth.