When a Parcel Could Be a Child
When the U.S. launched Parcel Post in 1913, its rules had not yet clearly said that a person could not be mailed. Some parents treated that gap literally: they paid postage, handed a child to a postal worker, and had the child carried to a nearby destination.
The best-known early case involved an eight-month-old Ohio boy sent to his grandmother’s home about a mile away. His parents paid 15 cents. He was not bundled into a box; a rural mail carrier made the delivery. The episode was possible because the new service classified and priced shipments as parcels, while its early rules had not expressly closed this strange loophole.
Why Parents Tried It
Parcel Post offered a practical advantage in places where a postal carrier already traveled a regular route. Sending a child that way could cost less than arranging other transportation, especially for a short trip. The carrier’s familiar route made the idea seem workable to some families—but it also put responsibility for a living passenger onto a service designed to move goods.
The loophole did not last. Postal authorities soon made clear that children were not acceptable mail. That change turned a brief, unsettling experiment into a memorable footnote: the early rules for a new delivery system were broad enough that a few parents tested their limits, until the government drew a line between a parcel and a person.
