The Post Office had a monopoly on the transport of Letters and it was an offence for anyone "sending or delivering letters other than by the post", except for letters sent with goods by common carrier, or by provate hands.
The legal letter below from 1798 was sent by parcel post on a coach, which would perhaps be of dubious legality.
The letter below in 1811 was definitely illegal, being sent part-way by parcel post (saving half the postage cost). It also refers to another illegality, the writer being "disappointed of a Frank".
Parcels sometimes did not get sent as directed as shown in the letter below from 1816, when a parcel was omitted from the direct coach to Dereham and was sent to Norfolk instead with directions to be taken from there to Dereham.
Items also got omitted from parcels, as shown in the letter below from 1821 when the addressee is requested to send the Copies of Admission by the 'Expedition' if the writer does not pick them up directly (the 'Expedition' was the name of the coach).
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