Barbados Postal

Fast, efficient, and always on time.

The British Postal Office established an office in Barbados as early as 1663 in the city of Bridgetown making Barbados one of the countries with the oldest postal services. In the begining the service was dependant on regular ships carrrying the mail back and forth between England and the West Indies. Originally a ship would take about 3 to 4 moths to return to England as it may have had to make other stops in other islands along the way. Mail was a slow process.

It was not until the 1745 when a regular monthly service was installed by the British Post Office. Postal markings first appeared in Barbados during the 1760's. The British Post Office was responsible for all mail to Barbados up until 1851.

On the September the 7th in 1851 the first postmaster Mr. W,H,Allder was appointed in Barbados at a salary of £300.00 per year. This came after the establishment of an ACT allowing the colony to setup an Inland Post Office. After being in office for a very short time he resigned and Mr. Charles Tinling was appointed to take over.

The Barbados Post Office operates as a department of the Government of Barbados and reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Barbados Postal Service (B.P.S.) is headed by the Postmaster General, who is responsible for maintaining the island’s postal services, subject to the laws of the island.



In general, the BPS is often perceived as synonymous with mail delivery and the purchase of stamps for postage. However, there is a great deal of back office activity involved in postal operations. As such the Postmaster General is assisted by a team of approximately 607 members of staff. Personnel ranges from postmen, Senior Postmen, Inspectors, porters, maids, drivers and Postal Clerks to Postmasters/mistresses, Postal Accountants, Postal Superintendents and Senior Postal Superintendents in addition to senior management.