Special Delivery was an additional service a customer paid for with additional postage. Generally, the special delivery service was used for urgent letters or packets that had to be delivered in less time than regular first class mail. A special delivery item was transported from a post office to the addressee immediately once it arrived at the post office responsible for delivering the mail. Special delivery items did not wait for the next scheduled delivery. The United States Post Office began offering special delivery service in 1885. In 1977, Express Mail service was introduced and the two services operated jointly until 1997. On June 7, 1997, special delivery service was terminated.