Re: Why Mars?

From: Mary Shafer (miliff_at_qnet.com)
Date: 11/20/04 

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 13:40:50 -0800

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:11:34 -0800, "D Schneider"
<snidelyd@netscape.com> wrote:

> > They won't take high value shipping like Fed Ex or UPS, or
>
> REA was the Fed Ex and UPS of its time. UPS was probably one of the major
> actors in putting it out of business.

I can remember sending a package by REA; it was a battery-powered
subscale car for my then-new husband's nephew. It couldn't be mailed
because of the batteries, so my only other choice was going to be
Greyhound. REA got it there quicker and cheaper.

REA was, as you say, the UPS of its time. It wasn't overnight but it
was fairly fast and pretty much everywhere, at least in the contiguous
US. Nowadays you'd have to use a freight forwarder and be dependent
on the forwarder putting an entire truckload together in a reasonable
length of time.

Mary 

-- 
Mary Shafer   Retired aerospace research engineer
miliff@qnet.com