Showing posts with label postal delivery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label postal delivery. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
have you heard of Vernon from the Texas area of Fed Ex? Awesome guy... standing ovation for above and beyond effort to get a package back to the sender after it was lost in the shuffle
A while ago I ordered a tiny little White Sox cap for Rob's new child, and it just never turned up. And then about a year after I'd ordered it, when it's too big to fit the tiny head, I got the package, it looked like it'd been kicked across the united States, this box was taped up with all this different tape, it was so wrecked.
I opened it, and there was this letter, I love it so much
Dear Mr Farrier, the contents of this package were given to Fed Ex ground in Houston Texas, on August 11th.
Though transferred to us by a driver from the US Postal Service in a package swap, that we do once per month, the packages tended to the wrong carrier
According to the driver, your package is one of several they had found in a cargo bin containing primarily DHL packages and he added, that the packages may have been there for quite a few months,
We explained to him that we are Fed Ex, and had no way to move DHL packages and gave them back to him to return to the USPS distribution center
upon examining the packages, I notice that your package had a ship date 21st of the 6th of 2022, and had been bouncing around delivery companies for over a year, never landing with the original intended delivery company
I instructed one of my quality assurance administrators to rebox your package and create a Fed Ex label so that we could finally forward the package to you
since the bottom packing tape had dried out and no longer sticks, we can open the bottom flaps, and the contents, a small White Sox, infants baseball cap, appears to be intact and undamaged
I realize that the cap my no longer fit the toddler, but as a lifetime baseball fan myself maybe he or she can save it for one of THEIR children. Go Sox!
Vernon
https://armchairexpertpod.com/pods/fb-cars from minute 7 to 10
Friday, September 08, 2023
Thursday, March 09, 2023
interesting contrast of transportation methods, and eras, that the UPS company has existed in.
UPS got into the parcel delivery service in 1907, with bicycles, and in 1913 bought its first Model T
Before the 1950s, UPS wasn’t allowed to deliver packages in between both private customers and commercial ones (like department stores). Then, they acquired something called “common carrier rights”. Those rights made UPS the US Postal Service’s biggest competitor.
Thursday, January 12, 2023
a photographer in Maryland had taken about 10,000 glass plate negative photos between 1905 and 1927, and about 2200 still exist. Thousands were destroyed when his inheritors cleared out his photo studio in order to make a chicken coop
and this reminds me that history is lost forever unless it's photographed, painted, drawn, or written down.
Everything that has ever happened that wasn't somehow recorded, is nearly unknown to the human race unless some physical example is found. Civilizations have been on this planet, that we know nothing about, until something is discovered about those, and everything that ever happened in the centuries that they existed, is a complete blank.
Like the Khmer Empire in Cambodia between 800 to 1300 A.D. which was largely forgotten by locals... and in WW2, soldiers stumbled across a burial chamber of an unknown civilization in Bulgaria. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2023/01/soldiers-stumbled-upon-a-2400-year-old-tomb-on-the-battlefields-of-wwii
Anyway, big picture? Unless you write your biography, most everything you ever experienced will be like it never happened the moment you die. My entire paternal family tree was utterly unknown by anyone alive until I did the family tree through Ancestry.com... because no one had recorded it, or anything about anyone in the family. No one knew our last name was chosen when a German ancestor came to the USA and left behind his German family name for something more American, which was very common among European immigrants.
I've seen a lot of steam tractors, but I can't remember ever seeing one with wheel covers.
what a cool arrangement of the people, which beats the hell out of the typical standing about and posing with boredom.
a 1990 feature in LIFE magazine exposed Beachy’s work to the world in a 1990 feature
Sunday, January 08, 2023
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Monday, October 31, 2022
Saturday, August 06, 2022
heatwave side effect, delivery drivers for the post office (USPS) and UPS are roasting, and posting photos of the 120+ degrees in their vans during their work day... because neither delivery company installs air conditioning for their drivers
UPS delivery drivers are sharing photos of the thermometer readings inside their trucks, showing that the temperature can reach up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit as part of a campaign to highlight unsafe working conditions.
Thermometer readings were posted by the Teamsters Union this past Monday. One shows a driver’s hand holding a temperature thermometer and pointing it into the back of their truck, filled with boxes on shelves. The thermometer reads 121.4 degrees.
On June 25, a 24-year-old California driver named Esteban Chavez died after he fell unconscious in his truck due to the heat, the family believes the cause of death was heatstroke, according to The Guardian.
At the time, UPS said it would be “ineffective” to put air conditioners in the trucks due to making frequent stops. The union replied that federal guidelines “clearly recommend such cooling is in fact an effective means for employers to mitigate the risk of heat illness on the job”.
Later that same month, a Scottsdale, Arizona, homeowner released doorbell video footage of a UPS driver collapsing in front of his door as he delivered a package in 110F (43C) heat.
The Teamsters announced on Monday that they were kicking off their fight for a better contract with UPS, since the current contract would expire in exactly one year.
“UPS hasn’t been proactive at all on the topic of heat and that’s going to have to change. We’re demanding the company take action now to protect workers and this is going to be one of a number of key issues that we’re bringing to the bargaining table when we go into contract negotiations," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien, and with 1.2 million members, it’s one of the largest unions in the world.
"UPS is projected to pull in more than $100 billion in revenue in 2022 off the backs of Teamsters, and while management sits inside drooling over those figures, we’ve got members going to the emergency room," Perrone said. "These trucks and warehouses are infernos. UPS can afford to do the right thing and protect its workers. They need to stop making excuses and do it now."
The Teamsters represent about 350,000 UPS workers, and heat safety protections are a top issue in the union's negotiations as their contract is set to expire next year.
"UPS is projected to pull in more than $100 billion in revenue in 2022 off the backs of Teamsters, and while management sits inside drooling over those figures, we’ve got members going to the emergency room," Perrone said. "These trucks and warehouses are infernos. UPS can afford to do the right thing and protect its workers. They need to stop making excuses and do it now."
The Teamsters represent about 350,000 UPS workers, and heat safety protections are a top issue in the union's negotiations as their contract is set to expire next year.
I haven't come across reports on Fed Ex or Amazon or DHS
https://www.audacy.com/krld/news/national/union-rep-says-ups-is-sending-drivers-out-to-die-amid-heat
https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/02/news/companies/ups-air-conditioning/index.html
not only does this prove OSHA is not proactive, but it proves OSHA ignored the death of USPS delivery driver Peggy Frank in 2018, that I'm proud to point out I covered in news in 2018 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/07/postal-delivery-worker-dead-in-her.html and followed up on in 2019 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/08/peggy-frank-died-last-july-due-to-usps.html
not only does this prove OSHA is not proactive, but it proves OSHA ignored the death of USPS delivery driver Peggy Frank in 2018, that I'm proud to point out I covered in news in 2018 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/07/postal-delivery-worker-dead-in-her.html and followed up on in 2019 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/08/peggy-frank-died-last-july-due-to-usps.html
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
in World War II there was one all-Black, all-female Postal Directory Battalion, of the Women’s Army Corps, the 6888th. Respect.
As for the Six Triple Eight’s wartime logistical triumph, the 6888th, dispatched to Britain under the command of Col. Charity Adams in 1945, managed to clear a massive backlog in undelivered mail to soldiers in the European theater of operations.
With the slogan “no mail, low morale”, they were sent to sort the massive backlog of mail in the European theater. Reports indicate the women were confronted with warehouses stacked to the ceilings, Christmas packages, love letters, and in some cases, final correspondence between loved ones lost.
Solving that severe morale issue and getting the letters and packages out was supposed to be an arduous task stretching six months at the least.
They did it in three.
It has taken decades for a widespread sharing of their story — indeed, Phyllis Wilson, president of the Military Women’s Memorial and a retired Army chief warrant officer, said she spent 37 years in the military and “never knew” of the 6888th’s heroics.
Sunday, June 26, 2022
I posted about these once, a long time ago, back in 2011, the Type 147 Fridolin, made to be used as postal delivery (thank you Phil and Crank_Case for the reminder!)
I don't remember the name, or number, but I think they were only made in Germany
Friday, May 13, 2022
Seen on yesterday's walk, an unusual postal delivery thing, a cool old van, a couple new "what's under the car cover" and the latest in "neglected and mistreated BMWs"
been sitting like this for 11 years at the least. The tree wasn't even shoulder high.
That's a Tapco Pony Express:
As the story goes, the US Postal Service was looking for a light postal delivery vehicle in the early 60s. At that point, the USPS was also utilizing Cushman Mailsters for the same role, and it was a Cushman that eventually caused the downfall of the Pony Express.
The USPS launched a design competition in 1964 with a view to producing a safe and stable vehicle to eventually replace the Cushman. A San Diego industrial designer by the name of Robert VonHeck designed this vehicle, which was strong, sturdy, far more stable than the Cushman, and powered by a small petrol engine. The USPS was impressed with the design, and Mr. VonHeck found himself the winner of the competition. The prize? A contract to produce 65,000 of the vehicles for USPS use.
With a frame constructed of strong 2″ steel tubing and a futuristic design, the USPS felt that they were onto a winner. Mr. VonHeck needed to be able to manufacture these vehicles, and he needed to start immediately. So, a then German-owned company called TAPCO Inc, located in Van Nuys, California, was contracted by USPS under a patent owned by Mr. VonHeck to undertake the work. They commenced on the project in early 1965, and everything was proceeding as planned.
Then it all went wrong. The US Postmaster General was returning to his office in Washington, D.C. when news came through that one of the delivery staff had been fatally injured following an accident in which a 3-wheeled delivery vehicle had overturned.
The Postmaster General panicked about the potential ramifications of the incident, and immediately called and canceled the entire order with TAPCO, with only around 350 vehicles having been completed.
The only problem with this decision was the fact that the vehicle involved was eventually found to be an older Cushman Mailster and not a Pony Express. By that stage, the damage was done, and the curtain fell on the Pony Express.
The 1965 TAPCO Pony Express had the opportunity to be an enormous success, and to become a common sight across the USA. However, thanks to a single administrative error, production was stopped before 1% of the projected production run had been completed. The only consolation in the whole fiasco was that Mr. VonHeck not only still owns the prototype Pony Express, but he also still owns the patent.
I think this is a 1979 Trans Am
Sunday, February 06, 2022
Saturday, January 22, 2022
looks like the future of Postal Carrier vehicles is this unusual looking thing from Oshkosh
The Oshkosh Defense USPS carrier beat out two other finalists to replace the long-running Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) last February, scoring a lucrative contract that’s worth a whopping $6 billion over ten years. In spite of some legal troubles and political opposition, the new Oshkosh Defense USPS carrier is on track to become the next Post Office mail delivery vehicle, and now, a full-scale design model of the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) being unloaded for a commercial shoot has been spotted in Saticoy, California, for the very first time by a Reddit user.
https://fordauthority.com/2022/01/ford-powered-oshkosh-defense-usps-carrier-spotted-for-first-time/
Monday, January 10, 2022
Thursday, August 26, 2021
Today I learned.... that the Post Office benefitted from the Works Progress Administration federal program, where 1,371 murals were painted about the local history of about 1,300 cities and towns, and the paintings were hung in, or painted on the walls of post offices.
The murals celebrated local industry and historical events, but today these murals often go unnoticed, almost like real-life Easter eggs of art hidden across the country,” writes Texas-based photographer Justin Hamel who has documented nearly 375 of these works of civic art while traveling across the United States. About 900 to 1,000 paintings still remain, though some are now in libraries due to the bankruptcy of the USPS and closing of some post offices over the last decade
According to him, the local industries that are depicted in many of the paintings still drive the economies of the communities they grace: cotton in Camilla, Georgia, for example, or wheat in Anthony, Kansas.
Notice the uniformity of the doors, windows, and lettering - though over time, some of the lettering for Bulletin and Postmaster, have been removed.
The federal government program responsible for the post office murals was the Section of Painting and Sculpture (later called the Section of Fine Arts). It was under the tutelage of the United States Treasury Department in Washington, DC. During the 1930s, the Great Depression caused rampant unemployment, hunger, and anxiety across the United States and Connecticut. President Franklin Roosevelt, to show citizens that the federal government could still get things done, built hundreds of new post offices (hence the uniformity).
Seeing a new government building constructed in the center of town helped boost the morale of local citizens and showed that the distant federal government had not forgotten about them. The Section of Painting and Sculpture decided which of those post offices got artwork inside.
Locomotive Repair Operation by Harold Lechman in the Renovo, Pennsylvania, post office shows six men working in the Pennsylvania Railroad repair shops, that are now no longer there.
Between 1934 and 1943, the federal government placed murals in twenty-three Connecticut post offices. Taking the form of both paintings and sculptures, these murals were intended to be of high quality and depicted subject matter that was quaint and comforting. The government wanted these murals to spark an interest in art and offer people an uplifting distraction from the troubles of the Great Depression.
See the series that Justin photographed at https://www.justinmhamel.com/postofficemurals?fbclid=IwAR2qr_A9XOpDFUZgXxrfMMRW3HmoBq80LQEDyY8M3t9f4k_A-mR4wzVya8U#1
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/post-office-murals
The majority of relocated murals are in local museums or libraries. Examples of these are the murals in Borger, Texas (Hutchenson County Museum); Brevard, North Carolina (library); Enterprise, Alabama (library); Fort Pierce, Florida (City Hall); Idabel, Oklahoma (Museum of the Red River); Lamesa, Texas (community center); and Sebring, Florida (library). The most interesting location a mural now hangs is in a hotel suite in Covington, Louisiana.
All wrapped into one, it is undoubtedly the largest public art project in the US.
In 2019, the post office made a series of stamps to show some of the murals: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/local-releases/co/2019/0410-post-office-murals.htm and https://www.amazon.com/Office-Murals-Forever-Stamps-Release/dp/B07QLHJJM2
A photographer who chooses to locate, photograph, and document a specific thing, is something I've only found a couple of times that has something to do with the vehicle world, so that I feel it's part of what I blog about, but you might remember the rail car diners, roadside rest area picnic tables, and the parking lot attendee booths, so, this isn't as vehicle related in terms of post office paintings, but the ones I've selected here are the railroad and tractor paintings
There are four murals by Stevan Dohanos in the Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, post office in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which are likely the only remaining New Deal–funded artworks in a United States territory.
see the following for more:
https://subjectivelyobjective.com/product/volume-102/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/aug/21/picture-essay-america-1930s-post-office-murals
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/node/2168
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_post_office_murals
If you'd like to find some, and want to look them up by state, this wikipedia link is terrific! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_post_office_murals
but this one is even better! https://livingnewdeal.org/map/
even a high school auditorium got one https://www.manitowoccountyhistory.org/stories/lincolnmural
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