By Dennis Sadowski
This is a story about a private mail service that tried to challenge the monopoly of the U.S. Postal Service and, even though its owner won a long federal court battle, lost in the end.
Thomas M. Murray founded the Independent Postal System of America in 1968 in Oklahoma City. His plan was to establish a mail delivery operation to carry commercial third- (commonly known as “junk” mail) and fourth-class mail as a competitor to the Post Office Department, now the USPS.
His company arranged to pick up mail from large businesses, take it to a central location for sorting and then truck it in specially marked vans to delivery locations, according to an exhibit developed by David A. Kiehn of the Memphis Stamp Collectors Society in Tennessee.
By 1971, IPSA claimed it was making deliveries in 30 states and had more than 18,000 employees. Their mail carriers wore crisp uniforms and were bonded, giving them legitimacy.
By 1976 it was gone.
The first step into demise had nothing to do with the company. Congress passed the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which led to the removal of the postmaster general from the president’s cabinet and changed the Post Office Department to the quasi-corporate independent U.S. Postal Service beginning July 1, 1971.
Spurred by his claimed success, Murray on Nov. 30, 1971, issued a set of stamp-like adhesives including a 5-cent value meant to be used on Christmas cards and second-, third- and fourth-class mail. At the time, the USPS was charging 8 cents for first-class mail.
The stamp set included 10-cent, 25-cent, 50-cent and $1 values for other services. The design utilized stylized IPSA lettering. IPSA even prepared first day covers, using postmarks similar to those of the USPS.
The labels got the attention of USPS officials and the U.S. Letter Carriers Union, both of which filed a federal lawsuit. A judge soon ruled that the delivery of Christmas cards, even at a discounted rate of 5 cents, constituted a first-class mail operation and thus violated an 1861 law. The legislation established the federal government as the sole carrier of first-class mail.
With momentum on its side, the USPS sued again. Its lawsuit argued that the delivery of any class of mail by any operation other than USPS was illegal. After a long court battle, a federal judge sided with IPSA, ruling that private delivery of non-first-class mail was legal. But legal costs drained IPSA’s finances, forcing Murray to close shop in 1976. By then, IPSA “had shrunk to 42 offices in 12 states,” reported Linn’s Stamp News.
Incidentally, the ruling opened the door for services such as UPS, FedEx and other firms to enter the package delivery business.
During the court fight IPSA issued other stamp label sets in 1973 and 1976.
The first set included a pair of 4-cent stamps featuring recently deceased presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson; a 25-cent stamp honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; a 5-cent stamp marking ISPA’s fifth anniversary; a 20-cent promoting free enterprise; and a 75-cent stamp to pay for an “IPSA gram.”
Five stamps in 1976 honored Elihu Burritt (5 cents), diplomat, philanthropist, social activist; mail Julius Reuter (7 cents), a German-born British entrepreneur who pioneered telegraphy and news reporting; Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (15 cents), reformer Susan B. Anthony (25 cents) and airplane pilot Charles Lindbergh (50 cents).
A sixth stamp, with a value of zero, depicted Murray as IPSA’s founder. Text on the stamp encouraged customers and supporters to “Write Your Congressman” to support measures pending in Congress to allow IPSA to continue in business.
In the end, IPSA is but a footnote in America’s long postal history.
Sadowski can be reached at sadowski.dennis@gmail.com.