False "History" on the History Channel-UPS, USPS (and REA?)

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

This past Sunday History Channel had an episode of "The Brands that Made America"about the formation of UPS and FedEx. They stated that the main package shipper pre-UPS was the Post Office. They forgot about the Railway Express Agency, and its predecessors, Wells Fargo and American Express (both of which assets were merged into what would eventually be the REA). It was the REA that was in constant legal battle with the USPO about the Post Office shipping small packages. And if you wanted to send things like chicks, bees, or perishables, you called Railway Express and the green truck picked it up.

The truth is…UPS became national when they picked up the former REA Express routes-after REA went under due to a long strike.

2

I was surprised to realize that UPS was first operational in 1907. It sure took awhile to get to where they are now.

Reminds me of Fed Ex WANTING to locate in Little Rock, but NO, those of better insight nixed the idea. Boy oh boy, how impressive to see the parade of Fed Ex jets taxi in line, i.e. 20 deep waitng for take off (3 AM). Even the story of Fed Ex concept is fasinating. endmrw0801231117

3

For a number of years, it was - if you just wanted to send it, USPS. If you were in a hurry, UPS, and if you were really in a hurry, FedEx.

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And now a days it seems - shipments in many cases start out on UPS or FedEx and move cross country to have the final miles handed over to USPS.

5

In Chicago area, at least when I was young, UPS was the delivery service for some department stores that did not have their own trucks. Fields hac its own, but Carsons used UPS .

6

Fedex Ground got their start by buying RPS-Roadway Package System. It was part of Roadway, which was merged into the late, great Yellow Freight.

7

UPS bought Overnite Transportation from UP (I think) and operated it for a number of years as UPS Freight and then sold it off as it was not generating the returns UPS wanted to see.

8

Greyhound handled packages on their buses. You had to pickup your shipment at the bus station.

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I believe that only recently ended. The coffee table in my living room rode on Greyhound and my wife bought it less than 10 years ago.

10

Shipped a fiberglass race car nose from Jacksonville to my son in Topeka. Not heavy, just bulky. UPS wanted North of $130 for it; a friend suggested Greyhond - $30 - 2nd day it was at the Topeka Greyhound station.

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I had a couple of items to send west (Phoenix, Denver). I could keep the size down (built crates for them) to the point that Greyhound would take them, but our local depot didn’t handle that stuff. They ended up travelling west with friends.

The crates got reused for other purposes.

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Before retiring from my Trucking (OTR,etc) I worked for a local carrier in Memphs,Tn. We worked very closely, with Federal Express. During the Thanksgiving/Christmas Season; we hadbuilt up to a’load count of north of 2,500 loads regular, and AD HOC.

iT was about 1990(?); Fed Ex bought a smaller road company; Originally, IIRC, it was called Razorback Express, then was renamed (American Frtwys),> Arkansas Freightways, ,HQ was at Harrison, Ark. Later, dispatch was moved to Memphis. It was from that FedEx Ground was grown. Our ties were so intertwinewd with Fed Ex; we were moved to a ‘seasonal’ desk in FedEx’s Bunker( @ old, Holiday City)

AS to the 'Bus" Freight; Late in1960’s/70’s; Continental Trailways operated, out of Memphis, several converted Scenicruiuser busses( seated only about a dozen paying passengers, and the larger rear passenger area was srtipped out, and re-configured to hold cargo,which was loaded by a conveyor belt through an open window; routes ran daily, into Mississippi. Greyhound,m also operated some converted busses, into Arkansas,and Tennessee, as well.

UPS came to Memphis, late in 1960’s, They brought a number of their older Package Cars [mfg by HAHN Truck,@ Hamburg,Pa.], to deliver with in Memphis area. Two of those Package Cars, I had to load in the morning sort, were from Philidelphia,Pa. They were sort of unique, as in their cab areas, they still had their machine gun rings installed:YEP! looked just like the maching gun rings,nstalled on the USMC trucks we had in SE Asia…Curious!

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Slight correction–Arkansas Freightways became American Freightways and then was bought by Fedex and became Fedex Freight. Fedex Ground is Fedex’s package division.

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No one here has yet mentioned Amtrak Express shipping… or maybe i missed it. Wouldn’t that service be comparable to the old REA service? According to the Amtrak website they take shipments up to 500 lbs… small LTL.

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That was East of the Rockies (or East of the Mississippi). West was another outfit whose name eludes me.

16

Viking. Later on, Watkins was also bought.

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This discussion brings back my first career - worked for an LTL trucking company. During the 1980s the carriers fell off rather quickly as deregulation changed the game. The protected territories were gone. The Teamster carriers soon faced not only expanded competition, but new carriers arrived which were non union. After 10 years, the writing was on the wall and I moved on to another carrier…33 years later still selling for that company…ironically to trucking companies and private fleets.

One of our biggest accounts was Yellow. The big 3 of the 1980s transcons are gone…Roadway (merged with Yellow), CF, and Yellow. Other transcons such as Ryder/PIE, Transcon, and Interstate fell off.

Solid regionals (here in the Midwest) such as Associated, Holland (merged into Yellow and recently closed), Smith, Crouse, Hyman, Lifschultz, Tucker, Preston, and dozens others fell by the wayside.

ABF and the old Overnight (now TFI) are the only major Teamster carriers left that I can think of. The gold standard of LTL seems to be Old Dominion…they have been very selective in their business model and expansion.

LTL trucking like railroads has its share of “Fallen Flags”.

Ed

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Where does Cowan stand within the trucking world?

After CSX moved its Dispatching and Divisional offices from a building they had occupied for over 40 years Cowan trucking moved into the space.

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On another forum, a poster said Old Dominion may be having problems, but did not elaborate. Another did say that OD is liked in the investment community, enough that their stock is going for top dollar. Maybe too much top dollar?

Jeff

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Wasn’t the same at all. I made something of an entrepreneurial business out of Amtrak Package Express in 1976… but it involved the use of a private truck to take the various packages to Trenton, where they’d be loaded aboard something with a baggage car, and then made available at a destination station for pickup. I confess to forging more than one waybill with an item considerably above the “150 pound” weight limit, but the packages got there without argument, at least none that ever got back to me…

To my knowledge this is unrelated to the Amtrak service with MHCs (the infamous ‘material handling car’ boxcars on high-speed trucks in the '90s) – those were loaded with typical M&E, and I don’t think they were easily accessed for small express or even ‘enroute’ LTL as opposed to being switched out for heavier unloading/loading.

One of the points of REA was that it was a last-mile delivery service, with those green-and-red trucks, and one of the things that killed it was that the delivery model involved distribution via passenger-railroad baggage service. The thing that really put the kibosh on REA (in the pre-deregulation era) was the Post Office taking their subsidy off RPOs and mail trains – even where passenger service was retained, the lack of baggage handling by the train crew at intermediate stops was profound.

I remember REA really trying in the early '70s – they changed their logo to one of the more delightful ones for those last couple of years, but you now almost can’t find it. They tried to chase the UPS model, essentially by having the same plethora of independent locations served by LTL cross-docking, but never developed any sort of skill