Muggle Mail

A letter Molly Weasley sent to the Dursleys via Muggle Mail

"No post on Sundays, no damn letters today —"

— Vernon Dursley hoping for a reprieve from Harry Potter's Hogwarts acceptance letters due to the normal progression of the Muggle post system

Muggle Mail was the general wizarding term for the post system used by Muggles to send letters.

Letters sent by this system generally required the presence of at least one stamp, a pre-paid form of postage. Post across international lines was also regulated by Customs. A letter also needed the recipients name and address written on the envelope.

Muggle mail and owl post

While the regular post was successful for Muggles, it wasn't quite as convenient as its wizarding counterpart, Owl Postal Service. Owls could find the designated recipient regardless of their current location, without needing an address, as opposed to a human postman, who could get confused by flats with more than one postbox, or sloppy handwriting on the envelope. Additionally, the service of an owl only required monetary payment if the sender did not own their own owl, barring special arrangements such as the Owlery at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Though, the owl itself was known to demand a treat as payment upon delivery.

That being said, Muggle mail had some good points of its own. A muggle with a truck and dolly could carry a lot more weight than an owl. Furthermore, owls could only fly so fast, and a human postman was less likely to nip at someone's hand.

History

Harry Potter: "She did put enough stamps on then."

Vernon Dursley: "The postman noticed. Very interested to know where this letter came from, he was. That's why he rang the doorbell. Seemed to think it was funny."

— Molly Weasley mistakenly put an excess of stamps on a letter

In 1991, Harry Potter received his initial Hogwarts acceptance letter via Muggle Mail, but when the letter was taken from him by Vernon Dursley, the remainder were sent via owl post.

During Harry Potter's visit to The Burrow in the summer holidays of 1992, Arthur Weasley bombarded him with questions about aspects of Muggle life, such as plugs and the postal service (Muggle Mail).

In 1994, Mrs Weasley sent a letter to the Dursleys asking if her family could take their nephew to the Quidditch World Cup. She was unfamiliar with the requirements regarding stamps and posted her letter with stamps covering every area on the envelope not used to write the addresses.

In 1995, Nymphadora Tonks sent a letter to the Dursleys informing them that they had been short-listed for the All-England Best-Kept Lawn competition. The fictitious competition was actually a ruse to get Harry out of the house so that the Advance Guard could spirit him away to 12 Grimmauld Place.

There was no post on Sundays, to the delight of Vernon Dursley, who incorrectly believed that this restriction would prevent the arrival of any more Hogwarts acceptance letters for Harry Potter on Sunday.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix