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.
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
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.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68For 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.
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.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
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 .
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.
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.
Greyhound handled packages on their buses. You had to pickup your shipment at the bus station.
mvlandsw Greyhound handled packages on their buses. You had to pickup your shipment at the bus station.
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.
mvlandswGreyhound handled packages on their buses. You had to pickup your shipment at the bus station.
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.
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.
Backshop 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.
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!
Slight correction--Arkansas Freightways became American Freightways and then was bought by Fedex and became Fedex Freight. Fedex Ground is Fedex's package division.
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.
Backshop Slight correction--Arkansas Freightways became American Freightways and then was bought by Fedex and became Fedex Freight. Fedex Ground is Fedex's package division.
That was East of the Rockies (or East of the Mississippi). West was another outfit whose name eludes me.
NYC-Ohio Backshop Slight correction--Arkansas Freightways became American Freightways and then was bought by Fedex and became Fedex Freight. Fedex Ground is Fedex's package division. That was East of the Rockies (or East of the Mississippi). West was another outfit whose name eludes me.
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
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.
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
UlrichNo 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.
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 at that (at least none that I could see) and unsurprisingly lost meaningful market share to Brown.
Had the company limped along until deregulation, there might have been an interesting chance to leverage what was still colossal name recognition into something better; even were we to develop cost-effective level 4 autonomous vehicles with robotic or drone delivery, the old REA distribution model would be unsustainable vs. (say) current Amazon prospective development.
jeffhergert 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
A 10K investment in Old Dominion in 1996 would be worth about $3.4 million today.. so i can understand why some investors are happy with it. Today it appears to be a tad overpriced but still a relatively decent stock I think.
Old Dominion has done a good job of branding itself.. which is very important in trucking as most carriers are regarded as pretty much all the same.. The branding has allowed them to price their services a little more aggressively than some of their competitors which shows up in their relatively low OR.
I haven't heard anything about them having problems.. at least nothing that would be out of the ordinary.
Most commercial airlines offer some sort of express package service as well.
https://www.deltacargo.com/Cargo/catalog/products/Dash
Even by the end of the 60s..most of REA's shipments went by truck and air, not rail
Speaking of sending packages by bus, there was an interesting wrinkle to the process. Back in the 1960's when I was working in New Orleans, we used to send and receive parts frequently by bus between our office and Baton Rouge. Occasionally, if we needed to send paperwork in a hurry, we'd send it by bus, but we learned that it was cheaper to send it in a box than an envelop. It was light enough that it was the minimum charge either way, but postal regulations required that the envelop had to have a stamp on it even though the postal service never touched it.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
azrailEven by the end of the 60s..most of REA's shipments went by truck and air, not rail.
The regular, and frequent, station stops that made REA by rail work were history.
BaltACD 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.
In the early ' 70s I used to take the train from DC area to Texas and back for college, via Kansas City or NOL, but used to ship my bicycle each time by Greyhound. Had to be boxed, but they even provided the box.
[quote user="BaltACD"]
tree68 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.
Also Amazon. Wife recently ordered a small item from Amazon (package) and it was delivered to our house by US Postal Service.
It did briefly mention Wells Fargo, but only as a bank that had stagecoaches to transport it's gold and cash.
I was a bit confused when they said UPS trucks were brown because they copied Pullman passenger cars - which I think were "Pullman green"?
I recall in the early 60s the green REA trucks in my town of Amityville, NY. We once went to the freight house at the station to pick up a package that was my brother's .22 rifle. Both the station and freight house were torn down when they elevated the tracks in about 1968. I have no recollection of how my father was notified that the package was there. Maybe a postcard? And remember those? Tan cards with Abe Lincoln's profile printed on them.
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