How were goods shipped in the 18th and early 19th Centuries?

Question

I don't mean shoved in a crate and dumped in a ship, but the details of how. When Lord Such and Such in Europe says to a servant "and have that vase sent to my wife", what happens then? How does the vase get from wherever  Lord Such and Such is in Europe to his wife in Castle Posh Nobs in England? There is no postal service beyond letters, so you can't just slap a label on it and drop it off at the local post office. So how does that servant post that vase?

? · Accepted Answer

I quote:

Hill had raised the idea of creating a parcel post in the 1840s, but his dream wasn’t realised until 1883. Prior to that you could deliver packages privately by stagecoach, but it was the railway industry that dominated the delivery of parcels in the United Kingdom.

So
basically
if you wanted a parcel delivered
you had to pay someone who was "going that way" to transport it for you
and the onus was on the transporter to deliver it to the intended recipient.

Lord Such-and-such
would likely have at his command carriages and/or horsemen and/or pages and/or possibly even ships (either military or transport)
or the ability to pay a trader or other reputable itinerant who was traveling to the place he needed to send said package.

? · Answer

Easy. You just slapped a label on it and dropped it off at the local post office. Hope this helped.

KennyB · Answer

Fundamentally, they employed shipping companies.  While the idea of FedEx had not been realized, there was a need and some enterprising people filled it.

How were goods shipped in the 18th and early 19th Centuries?

3 Answers