World Post Day is celebrated on October 9 by the initiative of the United Nations since 1992. The aim of the festival is to promote and develop postal services all over the world.
According to UPU data, there are more than 600 thousand post offices. In 2012 the postal services delivered 350 billion letters and more than 6 billion parcels.
Unusual messages and methods of delivery - in this photo gallery by TASS.
You've got mail: unusual postal services
World Post day happens each year on October 9, remembering this date for the establishment of Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in Bern, Switzerland
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Photo: German fisherman holds a bottle with a 1913 dated postcard inside
© EPA/UWE PAESLER Animals have always been used for mail delivery to the remote areas. Photo: US Postal Service contractor uses the mule to transport mail crate
© AP Photo/Bob Daugherty Orissa Police Pigeon Service in India still uses pigeons to carry messages during floods and famine
© AP Photo Military pigeon postal service of the US Army in Egypt, 1943
© AP Photo Letters to Ded Moroz (similar to Santa Claus in Russia) are very popular on the eves of Christmas and Happy New Year
© ITAR-TASS/Uriy Mashkov Thousands of letters addressed to God arrive to the Jerusalem main post office every year from all over the world and are collected and placed at the Judaism's holiest site. Photo: Letters written and addressed to God at the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem Wednesday, June 15, 2005
© AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti A postman on a bike, France
© AP Photo/Laurent Rebours There is a mailbox in the courtyard of Juliet's house in Verona for the fans of Shakespeare, as well as tourists who want to leave a romantic message
© AP Photo/Claudio Martinelli Mail delivery on a motorcycle in Switzerland
© AP Photo/KEYSTONE/Sebastian Annex Photo: Germany's postmen ride a dump truck near Dagebuell at the North Sea, northern Germany, December 5, 2006
© AP Photo/Heribert Proepper