The Story of Mr. ZIP and the Post Office

Mr. ZIP was a beloved mascot for the United States Postal Service in the 1960s. He was a friendly cartoon character with a distinctive red and white striped suit.

Mr. ZIP was introduced in 1963 to promote the new ZIP code system. The ZIP code system was designed to speed up mail delivery by allowing postal workers to quickly sort mail to specific areas.

The first ZIP code was assigned to the General Services Administration building in Washington, D.C. It was ZIP code 20000.

The ZIP code system was a huge success, and it's still in use today.

Mr. ZIP was created by Howard Wilcox, whose father was a letter carrier, for a bank-by-mail campaign in New York.

The original design was a child-like sketch of a postman delivering a letter, but it was only used a few times before being filed away.

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Mr. ZIP's job was to bring about awareness of the change in mail handling, making the process friendlier and assuaging fears about the U.S. Government instituting a "Big Brother" program.

Under the old system of sortation, an address such as "Murray Hill 6, New York" would eventually adopt a new "10016" ZIP Code.

The Zone Improvement Plan, or "ZIP", was introduced in 1963 and was intended to streamline mail handling, which was still done manually throughout the country.

In 1964, Mr. ZIP was introduced to help the public understand and adapt to the new system.

The simple design of Mr. ZIP was a hit, and his ear-to-ear smile gave him an innocent and approachable charm.

The U.S. Postal Service formally retired Mr. ZIP in 1986, but his iconic image is still associated with the USPS.

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Mr. ZIP was introduced in 1964 as the mascot to bring awareness to the new 5-digit numeric value system for American addresses, known as the Zone Improvement Plan, or "ZIP".

This new system was intended to streamline mail handling, which was still done manually throughout the country at the time.

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The old system of sortation for large cities was eventually replaced with the new 5-digit ZIP Code, such as "10016" for "Murray Hill 6, New York".

Mr. ZIP's job was to make the process of changing to the new system friendlier and to assuage fears and concerns that the U.S. Government was instituting some sort of "Big Brother" program.

Mr. ZIP was created by Howard Wilcox, whose father was a postal employee, and was initially proposed for a bank-by-mail campaign for a New York City bank.

The simple design of Mr. ZIP was a hit and stylishly in line with the "Mad Men" era illustrations of the times.

Mr. ZIP's ear-to-ear smile gave him an innocent and approachable charm that made him an icon.

The U.S. Postal Service formally retired Mr. ZIP in 1986, but he and his iconic image are still associated with the USPS.