OK, in English class today I found out that tomorrow we get to write either a letter of appreciation or a complaint to any business of our choice.
I think I’m going to write Union Pacific (letter of appreciation, of course) because of all they have done for me in the past few years. (Long story for another post[:)]) Tonight our homework is to find out who to contact and what address to send the letter to.
Looking at their website, I’m somewhat confused. I’m asking you for help.
Where would I send it and to who? Probably “Union Pacific Railroad, 1400 Douglas Street, Omaha, NE 68179” is my guess but I just want to be sure.
Thanks!
Acela
PS-Don’t bother replying after Friday, 1/13/12, that’s when we’re sending them. [:D]
Yeah, I did that, which is where I got the address above. I was kinda questioning if that was what I want but I think I’m going to go ahead and send it there. It would probably get redirected anyway if I sent it to the wrong place.
The Aerotrain. What a surprise. It certainly has seen better days, but it caught me off guard a bit…Wasn’t expecting to see one of those.
Just about got to ride one of those one time, but it was the wrong day of the month…It was replaced that day with standard consist. It was being serviced that day…!
The ride would have been from Pittsburgh to Johnstown, Pa.
I noticed your location is Oklahoma. If you want to contact someone at UP’s Public Relations on a more local level, this link provides some names and addresses.
If you did want to go more local, you would want the Southern Region listings. Of course, if you want to go to the very top, that would be James R. Young, Chairman and CEO at the address you already have.
Well, having spent my entire working career in the rail industry, my first piece of advice is to send it to a person, not just an address.
My second piece of advice is that , if I were someone from a local community writing a letter to UP about all the nice things they have done, I would send it right to the top - James R. Young, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. i would also be sure to mention in the letter whatever people at UP did all the good deeds.
There are two reasons to do this. First, at the very least, it will certainly get to the right person (or to his/her boss). Second, Young might actually read it I (in fact, it’s more likely than not that he will). In this case, rather than just making the nice person you are commending feel good, it might actually do some good for him or her.
The only caution I would have is that I wouldn’t do this(or write anything to anyone) i
Thanks for the help everybody! It sounds like the resounding answer is James Young. Thanks for your help.
Falcon48, it is very encouraging to hear that he may actually read it. No, I did NOT get to drive a train, nor did I ever do anything that would be against company policy. I think [:D]. Unfortunately I do not remember the names of most of my ‘benefactors’. Oh, well. They know who they are.
Modelcar, glad you enjoyed the photos. Stinks about the aerotrain ride.
Well, I finally got a reply! From the top, here is what I sent them:
Dear Mr. Young:
I would like to applaud you for being a driving force to make Union Pacific a great company. I am a fifteen year-old rail fan, and over the past few years I have had some great experiences with UP. It all started when my mother’s college friend’s brother-in-law found out I loved trains. He is a conductor for Union Pacific and he sent me one of the most valuable presents I believe I will ever receive. A hat, the kind only distributed to employees.
The first time I figured out the hat was something special was June 1st, 2007 in Pueblo, Colorado. A Union Pacific mixed freight was stopped, waiting for a block to clear. My grandfather and I figured this was a good time to take some photos. Upon seeing my hat, the engineer poked his head out the window and asked if I would like to come up into the cab. Stunned, I found myself climbing the ladder and sitting in the engineer’s seat. My grandfather stood outside, taking pictures of his 11 year-old grandson sitting at the throttle of 12,000 horsepower.
The next ‘incident’ occurred last summer. My grandfather and I were at Topeka’s Great Overland Station, watching some new equipment being moved in. We thought we were lucky just to have been able to watch the move. Then a white Tahoe with Union Pacific markings pulled up and four UP employees got out. Presumably they were on lunch break and had come over to watch the move. One of them spotted my hat, and everything changed. He walked over and asked if we would be interested in some free tickets to the ‘You Route the Steam’ excursion out of Kansas City. Unfortunately, we had to decline because we had a schedule. We told them that we would be in North Platt