Centennial of USPS special handling service

Apr 30, 2025, 10 AM

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

This year marks 100 years since the introduction of special handling, a service launched in 1925 to ensure careful, expedited delivery of fragile items and live animals. The service ended in 2022.

Packages with special handling service received distinct treatment within the mailstream marked by bright green labels (recent versions were yellow), signaling postal workers to prioritize and safeguard them beyond standard parcel services.

Bob Rufe of Delaware, a stamp collector and expert in special handling stamps, was kind enough to send the cover shown nearby postmarked on the exact anniversary date 100 years later.

The cover includes a Flag forever stamp alongside a 1925 25¢ special handling stamp (Scott QE4). The postmark is dated April 11, 2025, in Hockessin, Del.

Originally created at a time when parcel post volume was growing rapidly, special handling filled a critical need for more delicate shipments. While it offered faster service similar to today’s Ground Advantage service, its primary guarantee was extra physical care rather than speed alone.

Over the decades, improvements to overall parcel handling and the expansion of services like Priority Mail reduced the distinct advantages of special handling.

Ultimately in May 2022, the U.S. Postal Service formally ended special handling for most packages, retaining it only for the shipment of live animals.

The centennial of special handling reflects a bygone era of postal innovation, when the growing complexity of American commerce, and now e-commerce, demanded new solutions from the USPS.

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