Special Delivery: When American Families Shipped Their Kids Through the Mail
The Most Unusual Package Route in American History
Imagine walking into your local post office today and asking to mail your five-year-old daughter to her grandmother's house. You'd probably find yourself in handcuffs within minutes. But in 1913, that's exactly what happened in Grangeville, Idaho – and it was perfectly legal.
May Pierstorff wasn't just any package. At five years old and weighing 48 pounds, she technically qualified as a parcel under the newly established U.S. Parcel Post service. Her parents needed to get her to her grandparents' house 73 miles away, but with no reliable roads and prohibitively expensive train tickets, they discovered something remarkable: it was cheaper to mail their daughter than to buy her a ticket.
When Loopholes Meet Desperation
The Parcel Post service had launched just a year earlier in 1912, revolutionizing how Americans sent packages across the country. The service allowed items up to 50 pounds to be shipped anywhere in the United States, and the postal regulations were surprisingly vague about what constituted a "package."
May's parents paid 53 cents in stamps – roughly equivalent to $15 today – and attached them directly to their daughter's coat. The local postmaster, Leonard Mochel, was initially baffled but couldn't find any regulation specifically prohibiting the shipment of children. After all, May was under the weight limit, properly stamped, and had a clear delivery address.
The Journey of a Human Package
On February 19, 1914, May began her journey through the American postal system. She traveled by train in the mail car, supervised by postal clerk Vernon Lytle, who was technically her "mail carrier" for the 73-mile trip. Lytle later recalled that May was an excellent traveler, sleeping peacefully in the mail car and causing no disruptions to the postal service.
When she arrived at her destination, May was officially "delivered" to her grandmother's doorstep, complete with a delivery receipt. The entire transaction was processed through official postal channels, making her journey completely legitimate under federal law.
America's Brief Experiment in Human Mail
May Pierstorff wasn't alone in her postal adventure. Across rural America, other families discovered this bizarre loophole and began shipping their children to relatives. In Ohio, a pair of sisters were mailed to their grandmother's house. In Kentucky, parents shipped their infant son to his grandparents. Each case followed the same pattern: desperate families in remote areas finding creative solutions to transportation problems.
The postal workers, bound by their duty to deliver all properly stamped mail, found themselves in the unusual position of being babysitters. Many carriers reported that the children were model passengers, often more well-behaved than some of the livestock that occasionally found its way into mail cars.
The Government Steps In
By 1914, postal officials realized they had a problem. While no children had been harmed during their postal journeys, the practice raised serious questions about child safety and the intended purpose of the mail system. The sight of children with stamps attached to their clothing was becoming a public relations nightmare for the Post Office Department.
Postmaster General Albert Burleson finally addressed the issue in June 1914, issuing a formal regulation that explicitly prohibited the mailing of human beings. The new rule stated that "human beings" were not to be considered "mailable matter" under any circumstances, closing the loophole that had made these unusual deliveries possible.
Why This Actually Worked
The success of mailing children reveals something remarkable about early 20th-century America. The postal service was so reliable and trusted that parents felt comfortable entrusting their most precious cargo to mail carriers. Postal workers took their responsibility seriously, ensuring that every "human package" arrived safely at their destination.
The practice also highlights the transportation challenges faced by rural families in the early 1900s. With few roads and expensive train travel, the mail system often provided the most reliable connection between isolated communities. For families separated by vast distances, the postal service offered a lifeline – even if it meant temporarily turning their children into parcels.
The End of an Era
After the 1914 regulation, the practice of mailing children officially ended. Families had to return to traditional transportation methods, no matter how expensive or inconvenient. The Post Office Department's new rule ensured that human beings would never again be classified as deliverable packages.
Today, May Pierstorff's journey remains one of the strangest chapters in American postal history. Her story serves as a reminder of a time when the line between people and packages was surprisingly blurry, and when desperate families could find the most creative solutions to everyday problems.
The next time you complain about shipping costs, remember May Pierstorff – the little girl who proved that sometimes the most direct route between two points is through the U.S. mail system, stamps and all.