And now it's time for Who Smarted?
Next.
Oh, hey, smarty pants.
I'm going to say three words.
See if you can guess where I am.
Ready?
Letter.
A, B, C, D, E. Stamp.
Window.
I told you kids not to play ball near the house.
Did you get it?
I heard some of you guess it.
Hopefully you didn't cheat by looking at the name of the episode.
But hey, I was trying to trick you too by using the words differently than how they're used where I am.
For example, I didn't mean letter as in the alphabet.
I meant a letter you mail.
And to mail it, you need a stamp.
And you give your letter or package to the person at the window.
Next.
Now did you get it?
Why, of course, I'm at the post office.
I need to send a package to my aunt Analogue.
She doesn't stream podcasts, so I'm giving her a collection of Who Smarted commemorative plates.
Each plate has a picture of a different episode on it.
There's pizza, wombats, Minecraft, Lego bricks, dragons, beatboxing, all her favorites.
Of course I often joke with her that I should just mail myself to her so I can perform all the episodes live, so she can hear them.
You want to send yourself?
Normally, we don't send people through the mail.
But since this is a podcast, I'll make an exception.
Get on the scale.
Excuse me?
I was just... Get on the scale.
Getting!
Stay right there.
Listen, I wasn't suggesting I actually... Uh, what'd you just put on my forehead?
Hi there.
I'm Stella the Stamp.
I make it possible for you to travel through the postal system...
Oh, we're really doing this?
Okay, toss them in the bin.
The bin?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Wait, what about my plates?
Don't worry, trusty.
We're going to take good care of you.
And by morning, you'll be traveling to your aunt's home by mail.
Wow, I must say it is amazing how you can send a package to just about anyone, just about anywhere, and it'll get there in not a lot of time.
But Smarty Pants, how does the postal service work?
When did it start?
What's the secret behind those digits on your address?
And what crazy things can you actually send through the mail?
It's time for a whiff of history and science on... Who Smarted?
Who Smarted?
Who Smarted?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
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Okay, Smarty Pants, my adventure has begun.
A truck has taken me and Stella the postage stamp from the post office to a massive building full of vehicles, bins and large machinery.
There is so much going on here and so much mail.
That's because we are inside a mail processing plant.
This is where the magic happens.
Did you know we'll be traveling through the postal service that delivers more mail than any other postal service in the world?
Hmm, smarty pants, do you know where that postal service is located?
Is it A, China, B, India, or C, the United States?
If you said India, you're close.
India has the most post offices with nearly 155,000.
But it doesn't handle the largest volume of mail.
That's because almost half of all the mail in the world goes through C, the United States Postal Service.
Can you guess how many pieces of mail go through the U.S.
Postal Service every second?
Hmm, I don't know.
Smarty Pants, what's your guess?
100?
500?
1,000?
Try more than 3,600 pieces of mail per second.
And every day, the Postal Service processes and delivers about 318 million pieces of mail.
Yikes!
Imagine having to count all of that.
If you counted two pieces of mail every second, it would take over five years to count all the mail.
Postal Service delivers in a day.
That's a lot of mail.
Of course.
It wasn't always this way.
These days anyone can send a package or letter, but the first postal systems delivered mostly messages from government officials.
Smartypants, how long ago did people start sending mail?
500 years ago?
1,000 years ago?
2,000 years ago?
Longer?
Believe it or not, the ancient Egyptians had postal systems about 4,000 years ago.
Back then, it was the only way for one place to communicate with another.
Today, with our phones, computers and the internet, we can send messages across the entire globe in seconds.
But back then, it would take days to reach someone in the same country.
Even so, mail moved pretty quickly back then.
But it required a lot of teamwork and horsepower.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Who turned out the lights?
Uh, Stella?
Yeah?
Where are we?
We're now part of one of the most advanced postal delivery services of ancient times.
What is this?
Leather?
Am I in a sack?
Good guess.
Don't forget, you're still a piece of mail, but now you're traveling, in a leather sack, by horse through the ancient Roman Empire.
Roman mail was one of the fastest in its day, traveling about 170 miles, or 270 kilometers over 24 hours.
By horse?
Yep.
But a horse can't run like that throughout the day and night.
It needs to stop, eat, and rest.
And so do certain human-sized pieces of mail.
Good point, trustee.
That's why ancient postal systems work like another ancient invention, the Olympics.
Uh, how so?
Smarty Pants, what do you think?
What Olympic event is similar to the way mail moved in ancient times?
The discus throw?
The pole vault?
Or the relay race?
I sure hope it's not the discus throw.
I don't want to be tossed like a frisbee.
Oh, goody, we've stopped.
We must be there.
Nope.
Here we go again.
Yep.
Only we're on a different horse with a different rider.
Did someone steal us?
No, the horse and rider were waiting for us.
We were passed to them, and now we're galloping towards another waiting horse and rider.
Oh, I get it.
Smarty Pants, do you get it?
The ancient mail system worked like an Olympic relay race.
Except instead of passing a baton, they passed a sack of mail.
Exactly.
That's how mail moved so quickly across continents.
And Romans made it faster by building special roads just for mail delivery.
Ooh.
Back when the United States expanded westward, it also had a horse-driven independent postal service like this one.
Do you know what it was called?
Smarty Pants, do you know?
Was it A, the Oregon Trail Mail?
B, the Roadrunners?
Or C, the Pony Express?
Why, a horse is a horse, of course, so it's C, the Pony Express.
And do you know how long it lasted?
A, less than two years.
B, about 12 years.
Or C, it's still in use today.
The answer is A, less than two years.
Huh?
Yep.
While the Pony Express was fast for its time, it became obsolete or outdated by something much faster the telegraph.
The telegraph took just minutes to send a message.
But that's okay.
Postal technology has only improved since then.
Ah, it's good to be back in this modern mail plant.
On a conveyor belt?
Whoa, we're going through a tunnel!
Relax, trustee.
It's just checking the address written on your forehead and me, the stamp.
Most times, a package's weight determines the cost of a stamp.
The heavier the package, the more a stamp costs.
This machine makes sure the person sending the package got it right.
We're good.
As for the address, there's a five- or nine-digit number that helps the machines figure out where you're going to go.
Smarty Pants, do you know what that number is called?
Is it A, the area code, B, the zip code, or C, Morse code?
The answer, of course, is B, zip code.
Other countries have similar codes, called postal codes, that may contain letters, while the zip code in the United States has only numbers.
But why a zip code?
What does zip stand for?
ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan, and its numbers are very not random.
The first digit represents sections of the country, and they go from east to west.
So, a zip code starting with 1 might be for New York, Pennsylvania, or Delaware.
A seven could be for Texas Oklahoma, Arkansas or Louisiana, while a nine is heading to California, Oregon or Washington State.
The next two numbers narrow the destination to smaller regions, while the last two are for specific post offices and delivery zones within that region.
Sometimes there are four more digits which can tell a postal sorter just what block a package needs to go to.
Wow, there's a lot of information in that little number.
Okay, we're out of the tunnel, but we're still moving along.
Not for long.
Now that the machines know where you're going, at the right time they're going to boot you off the belt.
Woo-hoo!
And into a nearby bin full of all kinds of mail going to the same part of the country or overseas.
That bin then gets loaded onto a truck which will take you to a shipping port, airport or another processing plant or post office.
These trucks work through the night, so the mail moves quickly.
Once you're at the right post office, you'll be sorted again by zip code and eventually given to a person called a mail carrier, who will deliver you to your destination.
Uh, Stella, why is there a coconut in the pile?
As I said, there's all kinds of mail in this bin, including some crazy stuff.
Which we'll learn all about right after this quick break and a word from our sponsor.
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Now back to Who Smarted.
Okay, smarty pants.
We're in a truck now on the way to my aunt's after being sorted at the post office and... Hey, pal.
You ever considered switching to a better phone service?
Uh, no.
I'm happy with... Psst.
Hey, you need life insurance?
Car insurance?
Boat insurance?
Pet insurance?
How about a beach vacation?
New curtains?
Window shades?
Hey, we're having a sale on socks.
Sorry, I'm good.
Stella, what's going on?
Who's trying to get me to buy stuff?
Oh, that's junk mail.
Junk?
One person's junk is another person's treasure.
You sure I can't interest you in a high-rate, low-limit credit card?
How can we make it stop?
Good luck.
The post office delivers ads and offers at a discounted rate.
Six out of every ten pieces of mail in the U.S. qualifies as junk mail.
Other countries have outlawed it, but for the U.S.
Postal Service, it's a big moneymaker.
And it can use the money right now, as things like email and texting have greatly cut down the number of letters going through the mail.
Yep, I ain't going anywhere, except to your mailbox.
Here's a packet of coupons.
Believe it or not, junk mail actually works for the companies that send it.
But if you don't want to be bothered, you can just ignore it and toss it.
Okay.
Ow!
It's hard to ignore this.
Why is there a coconut in here?
Simple.
Not everything that goes through the mail has to be in a box.
Certain foods can be sent as is, such as coconuts or potatoes.
If you write an address on a potato and get the right postage for it, you can just drop it in the mail.
Whoa.
Are you saying instead of a greeting card, you can send a greeting spud?
That's what I'm saying.
But if you live outside the U.S., check the rules of your postal service first.
Wow.
What other weird things can you mail?
Smarty Pants, true or false?
You can send animals in the mail.
The answer is surprisingly true.
The postal service has transported baby chicks, worms, Goldfish, bees, even baby alligators.
Is that safe?
Oh, there are strict rules and special boxes that make it perfectly safe.
You can't just slap a stamp on a baby alligator and send it on its way.
After all, it's not a coconut, you know.
Ow!
Wow, I can't imagine it getting any weirder than mailing a baby alligator.
Right, Smarty Pants?
Actually, did you know some people have mailed their children?
What?
Yep, back in the early 1900s.
One time, parents sent their eight-month-old baby by mail a few miles away to his grandmother.
The postage stamp cost only 15 cents.
The baby was safely delivered.
But after that, the Postal Service created new rules to stop parents from mailing their children.
Whew, I'm happy to hear that.
As someone who's been mailed, let me just say it's much better for packages than people.
But as far as you and the Postal Service go, you get my stamp of approval.
Aw, thanks, trusty.
Ooh, and look, your plates made it, too.
Great, there's just one problem.
This isn't my Aunt Analog's house.
Oh boy, I think I put the wrong zip code.
A big shout out to Smarty fan Declan in La Ronja, Louisiana.
Thanks so much for writing to tell us how funny you think, Who's Smart It is and how much you love learning new facts with the trusty narrator.
That's what I'm here for.
Thanks, buddy.
This episode, The Postal Service, was written by Dave Barcode-Baudry and voiced by Sarah Forever Stamp-Sweetick, Kim Overnight Delivery-Davis, Adam Bulkrate-Davis and Jerry Kolber.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hazardous Materials-Hahn.
Our associate producer is Max, first class Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian, self-mailer Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis.
Who Smarted? was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
