Expanded Delivery Options

sheepherder · 10-09-2020, 04:57 PM

I recently received a delivery from a company I never heard of. Their tractor-trailers go by my house daily but I had no idea they delivered residentially. I'm talking about parcel delivery.

My recollections reflect my upbringing in the 50's onward. Small towns mostly, some of the delivery options started earlier in large cities. Talking about the cheapest delivery, not next-day or overnight.

Back in the 50's only USPS delivered to your door. There was a short-lived experiment of delivering twice a day sometime in the 70's; mail in the morning, parcels & anything else in the afternoon. Didn't last long.

UPS followed in the mid-50's although I wasn't aware of them until the 60's. "Big Brown Truck'. In my area now, they only deliver four days a week.

FedEx trucks & deliveries started appearing in the mid 70's. I hated FedEx. They would only make one attempt, after that you had to drive to their local terminal [airport usually] and pick up your package. No re-deliveries.

DHL only appeared here in the 80's IIRC, although they started in 1969. I only got a few parcels from DHL, mostly overseas deliveries. Purple & red name on their trucks.

Amazon trucks only started appearing here this year, although their trucks started delivering in the big cities in 2019. Long gray trucks. The ones I see around here are not tagged as electric. Guess there aren't enough charging stations yet.

Now, the company I got the delivery from last week was XPO Logistics. I had thought they were long distance carriers, tractor trailers. And that's what stopped in front of my house, a tractor with a 90 foot trailer. I've gotten a couple deliveries before from tractor-trailers, big stuff - refrigerator, garage lift, heavy stuff. But XPO was new to me. The driver seemed as confused as I was.

That's six delivery services. And I live in a rural area. Have since I moved out of the big city in '77. All six presumably competing. Although when I worked at USPS both UPS and FedEx sloughed off their base rate parcel deliveries to us. Probably more nation-wide delivery services that I don't know about deliver now, although I'm sure their trucks must pass by here (I live on the most-traveled North/South thoroughfare in Western New York State). RelCo is the most common carrier I see go by, but I've never seen them delivering.

I don't have any particular point to make. Just an observation on the growth of delivery services.

10-09-2020, 04:57 PM	#1
sheepherder Lifer Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: ...on the 'ol Erie Canal... Posts: 8,196 Thanks: 1,416 Thanked 4,462 Times in 2,336 Posts	Expanded Delivery Options I recently received a delivery from a company I never heard of. Their tractor-trailers go by my house daily but I had no idea they delivered residentially. I'm talking about parcel delivery. My recollections reflect my upbringing in the 50's onward. Small towns mostly, some of the delivery options started earlier in large cities. Talking about the cheapest delivery, not next-day or overnight. Back in the 50's only USPS delivered to your door. There was a short-lived experiment of delivering twice a day sometime in the 70's; mail in the morning, parcels & anything else in the afternoon. Didn't last long. UPS followed in the mid-50's although I wasn't aware of them until the 60's. "Big Brown Truck'. In my area now, they only deliver four days a week. FedEx trucks & deliveries started appearing in the mid 70's. I hated FedEx. They would only make one attempt, after that you had to drive to their local terminal [airport usually] and pick up your package. No re-deliveries. DHL only appeared here in the 80's IIRC, although they started in 1969. I only got a few parcels from DHL, mostly overseas deliveries. Purple & red name on their trucks. Amazon trucks only started appearing here this year, although their trucks started delivering in the big cities in 2019. Long gray trucks. The ones I see around here are not tagged as electric. Guess there aren't enough charging stations yet. Now, the company I got the delivery from last week was XPO Logistics. I had thought they were long distance carriers, tractor trailers. And that's what stopped in front of my house, a tractor with a 90 foot trailer. I've gotten a couple deliveries before from tractor-trailers, big stuff - refrigerator, garage lift, heavy stuff. But XPO was new to me. The driver seemed as confused as I was. That's six delivery services. And I live in a rural area. Have since I moved out of the big city in '77. All six presumably competing. Although when I worked at USPS both UPS and FedEx sloughed off their base rate parcel deliveries to us. Probably more nation-wide delivery services that I don't know about deliver now, although I'm sure their trucks must pass by here (I live on the most-traveled North/South thoroughfare in Western New York State). RelCo is the most common carrier I see go by, but I've never seen them delivering. I don't have any particular point to make. Just an observation on the growth of delivery services. __________________ I like my coffee the way I like my women... ...Cold and bitter...