Local mail carriers hope that customers show their appreciation for their labor with a donation on November 12, Dia del Cartero.
Postal Workers Day was established in 1934 to acknowledge the loyal service of the nation’s mail carriers. November 12 was selected in honor of a brave postal agent who risked his life on that date in 1913 in a train robbery by revolutionary rebels fighting under Emilio Zapata. The postman, traveling between Cuernavaca and Mexico City when the assault began, escaped the bandits by jumping the train and fleeing to the hills on foot to protect the correspondence in his care.
Nowadays, postal service users show their appreciation to mail handlers with a cash tip, bottle of booze or other gratuity in celebration of their day.
Mexico’s earliest postal service was established in 1580. In those days all correspondence was handled by private couriers who charged service to the recipient rather than the sender. A government-managed national system was founded in 1766.