The Mobile Post Office was introduced in November 1952 and was operated by Postal Services Department. It provided on-the-spot postal services to residents living in rural areas where there were no post offices. The vans followed fixed routes and time schedules which were announced in the newspapers and each visit only lasted about one to two hours. As more postal facilities were set up across the island, the mobile post offices were no longer needed to serve customers in rural areas and were eventually withdrawn from service in 1980.