Isle of Man Post Information & Isle of Man Post Links at HealthHaven.com

Isle of Man Post (Manx: Post Ellan Vannin), formerly the Isle of Man Post Office, operates postal delivery and post office counter services on the Isle of Man.

[edit] History

The Isle of Man's postal service was originally a part of the United Kingdom's Royal Mail, with a daily postal connection with the UK since 1879. In 1966 the UK Government commenced planning to convert the General Post Office into a public corporation, and as part of this process offered each of the Crown Dependencies the opportunity to assume control of the operations of the GPO on their territories. On the 18 October 1968, Tynwald decided that they did not wish to take up the offer, but provision was made in the Post Office Act 1969 nonetheless.

In the Channel Islands, the authorities did accept the offer, and postal and telecommunications activities of the GPO were transferred in October 1969 to form Jersey Post and Guernsey Post (telecoms activities were transferred to Jersey Telecom and Guernsey Telecoms respectively).

In 1972, following negotiations by Tynwald to have the telephone system excluded from the transfer, it was agreed that the Isle of Man would, after all, take over control of the insular postal administration. As a result, the divestiture was completed on 5 July 1973 and Isle of Man Post Office Authority was formed. The monies paid for the assets of the Royal Mail, £148,624, were recouped within the first year from the surpluses generated by the Authority. It was renamed to the Isle of Man Post Office in February 2004. Isle of Man Post was reconstituted under the Post Office Act 1993 as a Statutory Board of Tynwald.

[edit] Telecommunications

Telecommunications remained the responsibility of the British GPO until 1981, when British Telecom was created. In 1987, telecommunications were transferred to the local company Manx Telecom, which initially a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT, but became a subsidiary of O2.

[edit] Stamps

Stamps with unique Isle of Man designs were first issued in 1971 as a variant of the 'Machin' design, and since 1973 they have been the only valid stamps on the island, and also not valid for postage in the UK or elsewhere. Isle of Man stamps have since become popular with philatelists throughout the world.

[edit] Postal rates

When sending mail to the Island from elsewhere, the Isle of Man is treated as though it were part of the United Kingdom, and mail from the UK continues to be charged at Royal Mail's UK inland rates. However, postcodes were not introduced in the Isle of Man until 1993, when the Island was postcoded as the IM postcode area as an extension of the United Kingdom postcode system.^[1]

Mail sent from the Island to the UK is flown across the Irish Sea, and enters the first-class stream of the Royal Mail for next-day delivery.^[2]

Isle of Man Post is a member of the Small European Postal Administration Cooperation.