<P> Mr. ZIP is a caricature of a mail carrier, wide - eyed and drawn with his letter bag trailing him in such a way as to imply his travelling at extreme speed, and sometimes holding on to his hat with his free hand . His limbs were very thin, almost like those of a stick figure . He was particularly used on posters promoting ZIP Code use . The character was largely phased out by the late 1970s, but the Post Office retained rights to the copyrighted figure . </P> <P> Mr. ZIP appeared on the selvage (non-postally valid areas) of stamp panes (more commonly called "sheets") for many stamp issues, beginning with the 5 cent Sam Houston stamp issued January 10, 1964, although the 5 ¢ Battle of the Wilderness stamp of May 5, 1964, is sometimes listed as the "first" because it appears earlier in most stamp catalogs due to its inclusion in a five - issue Civil War series . He also appeared on non-postally - valid labels inside, or on the cover of, stamp booklets . Stamp collectors sometimes collect the corner block of four stamps with the part of the selvage bearing Mr. ZIP; these are called "ZIP blocks". Mr. ZIP appeared in the blank selvage of United States stamps until January 1986 . </P> <P> The Post Office re-introduced Mr. ZIP to stamps in 2013, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ZIP Code system . </P>

Hat is the only fictional character to have their own zip code