The first postage stamps were introduced in 1840 in Great Britain and Ireland in order to unify the system of postal fees. Before the advent of the stamp the postal fee depended on the social status of a sender and was covered by the recipient and for that reason many people refused to receive a precious letter or parcel. Rowland Hill reformed the mail and introduced postage stamps as proof of payment, which would depend entirely on the weight of the shipment. The design of a stamp proposed by him was so practical that it quickly became widespread around the world and has not changed until today. We still use small paper stamps, as we did in the second half of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, they are big enough to fit a postmark. They should also be easily glued to the shipment.
