Meet Mr. ZIP™ — The Mascot Who Revolutionized America’s Mail!

Fun Fact Friday: Meet Mr. ZIP™ — The Mascot Who Revolutionized America’s Mail! 

Mr. ZIP™  was introduced in 1964 after the US Postal Service™ announced in 1963 that American addresses would be assigned 5-digit numeric values.  This new system was called the  Zone Improvement Plan, or “ZIP”, and was intended only to streamline mail handling, which was still done manually throughout the country.  Under the old system of sortation (for large cities), an address such as “Murray Hill 6, New York” would eventually adopt a new “10016” ZIP Code.  Mr. ZIP’s job was to bring about awareness of the change, make the process friendlier, and assuage fears and concerns of the U.S. Government instituting some sort of “Big Brother” program. 

Mr. ZIP™  was created from the imagination of Howard Wilcox (whose father was a postal employee).  Wilcox was a member of the advertising firm, Cunningham & Walsh, and he proposed Mr. ZIP™ initially with a bank-by-mail campaign for a New York City bank. The simple design was a hit and also stylishly in line with other “Mad Men” 1950s-1960s era, stick-drawing illustrations of the times.  The ear-to-ear smile, however, gave Mr. ZIP™ an innocent and approachable charm; hence, an icon was born. 

In 1986, the U.S. Postal Service™  formally retired Mr.ZIP™, but he and his iconic image are still warmly and directly associated with the USPS™. We include a local Mr. ZIP cut-out that has been affectionately lured out of retirement for the holiday season and put on display in the lobby of the Catskill, NY 12414 post office.   

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Image and Citation References:   

(1)  https://postalmuseum.si.edu/collections/object-spotlight/mr-zip#:~:text=A%20cheerful%20cartoon%20character%2C%20Mr,rest%20and%20much%20needed%20treatment. 

(2)  Mr ZIP image credit: CRST picture taken at the Catskill, NY 12414 post office in 2018 

(3)  https://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/mr-zip-changed-lives/ 

(4)  https://www.savethepostoffice.com/leveraging-intellectual-property-wheres-mr-zip-when-you-need-him/ 

(5)  https://www.uspsoig.gov/reports/white-papers/untold-story-zip-code