Fonopost, or Phonopost, was an experimental postal service in Argentina to record a person's voice and deliver the resulting recording by mail.

The service was demonstrated at the Postal Union Congress

Postal Union Congress

The Postal Union Congress is the main international meeting of the Universal Postal Union, used to discuss various issues affecting international postal services, such as legislation, the political climate, and other strategic issues. The first congress was held in Bern Switzerland in 1874, and was...

 in Buenos Aires in 1939 and later the Argentine Post Office issued three stamps to mail the records.

Special mobile recording vans were used to make the recordings which used 8 inch 78rpm acetate

Acetate disc

An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...

 gramophone

Phonograph

The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...

 records.

As a service approved by the Universal Postal Union

Universal Postal Union

The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration , the Postal Operations Council and the...

, Fonopost was not restricted just to Argentina.

The approved status of Fonopost was removed at the Tokyo U.P.U. congress in 1969.

Further reading

• Bose, Walter B.L. Phonopost service: Its Introduction and Development in the Argentine Republic. Berne: L'Union Postale, 1945.
• "Fonopost" by Harry M. Konwiser in Stamps, 6 July 1946.