The listing, Used U.S. Stamp #1164 4¢ First Automated Post Office-Possible Free Shipping has ended.
On October 20, 1960, the Post Office Department placed into service a new mail processing facility at Providence, Rhode Island, and widely promoted it as "the first automated post office in the United States." Intelex, a subsidiary of the International Telephone & Telegraph conglomerate, built the thirteen-acre facility under contract and turned it over to the Post Office Department ready to operate. It incorporated the first automatic, high-speed sorting, facing, and cancelling machines as well as three miles of conveyor belts that moved mail between processing areas within the plant and to the loading docks for transport. This stamp, which depicts an architect's rendering of the new facility, was the first US issue that directly celebrated the Post Office Department.