surface mail

English

Noun

surface mail (uncountable)

1. (retronym) Mail which is transported by motor vehicle, by railway, or by seacraft, but not by aircraft.
   • 1971 October 8, “‘Mail early’ message sent”, in The Montreal Gazette, retrieved 29 March 2013, page 12:

     All Christmas cards for overseas delivery must be sealed and may travel either by surface mail at an eight-cent rate or by air mail at 12 cents.

   • 1981 September 16, “Around the World: Israeli-Egyptian Talks On Links Near an End”, in New York Times, retrieved 22 March 2013:

     [M]embers of the joint committee on communications also decided to improve postal service between Israel and Egypt to include surface mail in addition to air mail deliveries.

Translations

mail transported by motor vehicle

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平郵 / 平邮 (píngyóu)

• Finnish: maaposti
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: ytpost (sv) c

References

• “surface mail”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.