Post Office travelling sorting office, Bressingham Steam Museum, Norfold

A mail bag or mailbag is a generic term for a type of bag used for collecting, carrying, categorizing, and classifying different types of postal material, depending on its priority, destination, and method of transport. It is oftentimes used by a post office system in transporting these different grades of mail.However, according to the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

, a second definition is "the letters received by a person, especially a public figure." Thus, for example, the " Mailbag special" featuring letter requests from viewers is a recurrent event on MythBusters. The ''mailbag'' is carried by some means of transporting like a

mail carrier A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

, animal (''e.g.'', mule, horse), or a mobile post office. Letters and printed material delivered by mail in the seventeen-hundreds were carried by horse in a

saddle bag Saddlebags are bags that are attached to saddles. Horse riding In horse riding, saddlebags sit in various positions, on the back, side, or front of the saddle. Most attach to the saddle by straps and ties. They can be made from various material ...

. There are several different types of ''mailbags'' for different purposes (''e.g.'', transporting mail to and from post offices, delivering mail to businesses and homes). These different styles of mailbags depend on its size and purpose. It can range from "a large bag used for transporting mail on a truck, plane, etc." to a simple "postbag" used by a mail carrier to deliver mail. The idea of having ''mail bags'' on board ships traveling between

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

was established as early as 1780. The name of the ship carrying a letter was put on the corner of the letter so that it would be put into the proper ''mail bag'' for the destination intended. A ''mailbag'' throughout the United States history has been called various names depending on its form and function at the time, some of which are now obsolete. Among these names are

mail sack A mail sack or mailsack is a mail bag used to carry large quantities of mail. Different handling and security requirements for different classes of mail is integral to the postal rate structure. A mail sack is not a locked bag since they need ...

mail satchel A mail satchel is a type of mail bag that a letter carrier uses over-the-shoulder for assisting the delivery of personal mail on a designated route. Etymology and word origins *According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word ''mail'' i ...

mail pouch A mail pouch or mailpouch is a container for mail, designed to transport first-class, registered mail, domestic mail and military mail. It usually has a drawstring, and is made of a stronger material (''e.g.'', canvas) than mail sacks (''e.g. ...

catcher pouch ] A catcher pouch was a mail bag used by railway post offices of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Its use was limited to exchanges onto moving trains. The specially constructed catcher pouch was grabbed by the catcher mech ...

, wikt:mochila, mochila, and

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words

Private Mail Bag A private mail bag (PMB), locked bag or caller service is a term for a special form of postal delivery in some countries, usually a government department or large private company, which receive large volumes of mail. Private mail bag addresses are ...

s or so-called "Locked Bags" are a worldwide solution for specialized mail delivery to a single location. Like

PO Box A post office box (commonly abbreviated as P.O. box, or also known as a postal box) is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office. In some regions, particularly in Africa, there is no door to door delivery ...

addresses, Private Mail Bag addresses omit the name of the building and street, and include only the number allocated to the user. Private Mail Bag addresses are often used in countries in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

where there may be no street delivery service. In

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and North America, where street delivery is more commonplace, large users may be allocated their own

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

s, and consequently need only use their physical address in correspondence; the postal code implies that the recipient receives mail by caller service. Private mail bags may be in lieu of a Post Office Box, but sometimes can go so far as to have an individualized corporate zip code.For example, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' has the unique ZIP code 20071.

Types

The U.S. National Postal Museum says that any bag that carries mail (''e.g.'', letters, magazines, advertisement brochures, packages) is defined as a "Mailbag". A '' mailbag '' is called a ''postbag'' in England. The form and structure of mailbags has implications for fatigue and industrial injuries to

Mail sacks

A mail sack is a lower security class mailbag used to carry second-class, third-class, and fourth-class mail. It does not have a locking mechanism with it.

Mail satchel

A mail satchel is a device letter carriers use over-the-shoulder for assisting the delivery of personal mail to businesses and homes.

Mail pouch

A mail pouch is a strong material (''e.g.'', canvas) mail bag designed to lock at the top to prevent access into the bag. They are usually used for transporting First-class and

registered mail Registered mail is a mail service offered by postal services in many countries which allows the sender proof of mailing via a mailing receipt and, upon request, electronic verification that an article was delivered or that a delivery attempt was ...

to and from different post offices. Mail pouches also carry military domestic and military airmail.

Catcher pouch

A catcher pouch was a mail bag used only by the

Railway Post Office In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly tr ...

in exchanging mail when the train did not stop at the town. It was most popular in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century.

Mochila

A mochila was a removable lightweight leather cover put over a horse saddle for carrying mail and was used by the

Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...

Portmanteau

A portmanteau was a traveling suitcase used as a mailbag in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to carry both letters and newspapers. When it opened it had two different compartments, one for letters and the other for newspapers.

In popular culture

Uniformed Letter Carrier with Child in Mailbag

* With the advent of

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 ...

in 1913, after some adults sent their children in the mails with postage affixed to clothing the U.S. Postmaster General issued regulations barring such shipment. The theory was that children were under the 50 lb. weight limit, and that it was a lot cheaper to mail them than to pay rail fares. In part, the regulation followed a letter inquiring as to whether parcel post would be appropriate, and the Postmaster General was of the opinion that children were not within the definition of "bees and bugs", which were the only fauna permitted to be mailed. Nevertheless, several children were actually mailed. On 13 June 1920, sending children by Parcel Post was officially forbidden. Thereafter, a mail bag stuffed with a child was prominently featured in a humorous photograph to illustrate the prohibition. *The form of this sack is so evocative and iconic that it inspired the "counterfeit mail bag" in

The J. Peterman Company The J. Peterman Company is an American retail company that sells clothing, fashion accessories, and furniture primarily through catalogs and the Internet. It was founded by John Peterman in 1987 and has its headquarters in Blue Ash, Ohio. Hist ...

catalog. *

Phantom Ranch Phantom Ranch is a lodge inside Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. It sits at the bottom of Grand Canyon, on the east side of Bright Angel Creek, a little over half a mile north of the Creek's confluence with the Colorado River. Opened in ...

, in the Grand Canyon, is one of two places in America where mail is still transported by mule in specially designed leather mailbags. The other place is

Supai, Arizona Supai ( yuf-x-hav, Havasuuw) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, within the Grand Canyon. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a population of 208. The capital of the Havasupai Indian Reservation, Supai ...

, inhabited by

Havasupai The Havasupai people (Havasupai: ''Havsuw' Baaja'') are an American Indian tribe who have lived in the Grand Canyon for at least the past 800 years. ''Havasu'' means "blue-green water" and ''pai'' "people". Located primarily in an area know ...

native American Indian Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and #Terminology differences, other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States (Indigenous peopl ...

s, also in the Grand Canyon. *

Illusionist Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...

and

Escapologist Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and oth ...

Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician R ...

first popularized the so-called "Mailbag escape" using U.S. Postal Service mailbags, after having found the British postbags unsuitable.