Butcher's Post: When Butchers Delivered the Mail

Where and when did the Butcher's Post exist?

The Butcher's Post was mainly prevalent in southern Germany, particularly in the regions of Württemberg, Baden, and the Palatinate. The first Butcher's Posts were established as early as the 16th century. Authorities, merchants, and private individuals regularly handed over letters and goods to the butchers on their journeys for delivery.

In some cities and merchant guilds, formal contracts were even concluded with the butchers to take on these messenger services. In the Duchy of Württemberg, butchers were officially obliged by a princely decree to transport letter mail for payment.

How did the Butcher's Post work?

When the butchers arrived in a town with their horse-drawn wagons or left it again, they announced this by blowing a cow horn. The cow horn is considered the predecessor of the later post horn. It served to achieve faster processing at the post stations.

For the delivery of letters, the butchers received a fixed compensation. A decree by the Duke of Württemberg from 1622, for example, set a payment of half a guilder per mile. In addition, the postilion and horses had to be provided for during the journey.

The End of the Butcher's Post

With the establishment of a regular, state-organized postal system, the Butcher's Post gradually disappeared. At the end of the 17th century, the Imperial Reichspost under the leadership of the Thurn and Taxis family, as well as regional state postal authorities, increasingly took over the tasks of the butchers.

By the 18th century, the era of the Butcher's Post was finally over. However, for over 200 years, it had played an important role in the transmission of messages and the transport of goods in southern Germany before modern postal services took over its tasks.