The United States Postal Service is something that millions of us rely on every day, yet most of us know very little about it. Here’s six surprising facts about the U.S. Postal Service that you likely did not know before.

The first post office was located in a bar.

Believe it or not, the first post office in colonial America was established in a Boston home that doubled as a tavern and belonged to a man named Richard Fairbanks.

The Postmaster General was once a semi-celebrity.

Being the Postmaster General was once seen as a VERY big deal. In the early days of the United States, John McLean, Postmaster General from 1823 to 1829, reported directly to President James Monroe and then to President John Quincy Adams. This position later led to him even being appointed to the Supreme Court, and he eventually became viewed as a very serious presidential candidate.

The Postmaster General used to be in the line of succession to the Presidency.

One of the reasons why the Postmaster General was so important was that he could one day become president! President Andrew Jackson made it so that the Postmaster General could sit in the Cabinet, which put the office on the same level as the Secretaries of War, Treasury, and State. This meant that the PG was technically in line for the presidency, albeit last in line in the cabinet. It wasn’t until 1971 that the PG was removed from the Cabinet altogether.

Until the mid-19th century, recipients—not senders—typically had to pay for postage on the letters they received.

Recipients, given the choice, would refuse the mail sent to them to avoid having to pay the postage. Not surprisingly, this resulted in the post office having to spend an inordinate amount of time returning mail to senders. Finally, in 1847, postage stamps were introduced and this problem was solved.

Mailmen also delivered eggs, fresh meats, and vegetables.

The Farm-to-Table program, which ran from 1914 to 1920, made it so that farmers could arrange prices with people in urban areas and mail them their choice of ham, bacon, fresh meats, poultry, eggs, butter, cheese, nuts, maple syrup, honey, jellies, preserves, fruits, and vegetables. It was seen as a novel way to give farmers more customers and city dwellers better produce. It was also seen as a way of meeting President Woodrow Wilson’s goal of food conservation in America.

The Postmaster General is the second highest-paid federal government employee after the President. 

While the U.S. president gets a base salary of $400,000 a year; the Postmaster General gets a base salary of $276,840. The current PG is Megan Brennan, the first woman in history to hold the job, and she gets a base salary of $276,840. This means that she out earns the vice president, who has a base salary of $243,500.