The postage stamp was put into circulation on May 6, 1840. The idea for its creation stems from the postal reform prepared by a committee of the British parliament. The need to standardize postal services resulted from many problems with the charges for shipments - they were quite large, and the costs were borne by the addressee. As a result, most letters and parcels were returned to the sender. The chairman of the committee at that time was Robert Wallacei, he started the process of great postal changes. The reform assumed the unification of the fee for letters, the price for a letter up to half an ounce was 1 pence. The method of payment was also supposed to be a significant change - the shipment was paid by the sender "in advance". Therefore, there was a need to create a special tag that will inform you that the letter is already paid for. The reform took effect on January 10, 1840. A few months later, the first stamp, named Penny Black, appeared.