Monthly Archives: June 2010

United Parcel Service

UPS was started by two teenagers with one bicycle and $100 borrowed from a friend.

The date was August 28, 1907 and the two kids were 18 year old Claude Ryan and 19 year old Jim Casey. The two had one bike between them and $100 borrowed from a friend to found the “American Messenger Company” in Seattle, Washington. The company was initially run in a hotel basement at Second Avenue and Main Street in Seattle.

At that time, most people didn’t own phones, so sending telegrams was a frequent thing. These had to be hand delivered. In the beginning, they primarily delivered these telegrams, but eventually expanded into transporting pretty much anything that could be transported on a bicycle or on foot. Casey and Ryan manned the phone while Casey’s brother George and a handful of other teenagers went out making deliveries.

Fast-forward a few years and Casey and Ryan had merged their company with rival Merchant’s Parcel Delivery taking the latter’s name. In the process, they acquired a few motorcycles and delivery cars with their first car being a Ford Model T. At this time, more and more people had telephones so Casey and Ryan switched to working with retail stores to deliver customers purchases to their homes.

By the time Casey retired from UPS in 1962, the company had grown to operating in 31 U.S. states with annual sales around 550 million dollars and about 22,000 workers.

Fast forward to 2010 and Casey and Ryan’s company that started so humbly is now worth approximately 50 billion dollars; employing just under half a million workers in 200 countries; delivering over 3.8 billion packages and documents a year. Amazing what $100, some elbow grease, and a bit of ingenuity can do.

Bonus Facts:

Returning to their roots, in 2008, UPS began hiring bike delivery workers in Vancouver, Washington and various cities in Oregon.

UPS developed software that routes trucks so that they minimize left turns in their deliveries. By doing so, they reduced their annual fuel consumption by nearly 51,000 gallons in Washington DC alone. The reduction in fuel comes from drivers not having to sit idling at red lights waiting to make left hand turns.

When UPS expanded into West Germany, they had to change the brown uniform to green, due to the “brown shirts” worn by the Nazi SA.

In the early days of UPS, the United States Postal Service was their biggest client. UPS handled delivering all USPS special delivery mail in Seattle.

The brown color UPS uses is named Pullman Brown.

James Casey originally wanted the trucks to be yellow, instead of brown. He was eventually convinced to make them brown by Charlie Soderstrom. Soderstrom pointed out that yellow trucks would be impossible to keep clean. Railroad cars are often brown for this same reason.

In 1966, Jim Casey created the Casey Family Programs to help children who are unable to live with their birth parents. Casey felt his family life was critical to his being able to become successful. As such, the goal of the organization is to attempt to provide the same type of stability and support base to these children.

In 1919, Merchant’s Parcel Delivery changed its name to the United Parcel Service. At this same time, the company began expanding to other cities besides just Seattle. The name was chosen with “United” signifying that each of the offices in various cities were all part of a greater whole; “Parcel” identified the nature of the business; and “Service” indicating what was offered.

First Cause Cosmology as presented by Mr. Deity

This posting is another milestone. It is my 1500th blog posting here. I’m sure no one has read/watched/listened to all 1500, but thanks for partaking of the small doses you may have consumed. If someone among you has partaken of all 1500 postings, mores the pity, and I apologize to you for having wasted so much of your time. On the other hand, if you have waded through all 1500 posts, then I guess it is sort of your own fault.

Most Expensive Bath Tubs

Nothing says luxury like lazing the hours away in a tub that costs more than a lot of houses. Those looking for such a tub, however, have a few more options than they used to. If you’re not happy with plain porcelain, you can purchase a tub made from fine materials or hi-tech gadgets.

Water Games Technologies’ Red Diamond bathtub – $47,200

Designed by Aldo Puglielli, this bright red tub is big enough for two people. That’s just the beginning of the tub’s laundry list of features, however. It also includes a console framed in gold—42 grams of 18-karat gold, to be exact—and Swarovski crystals. The console controls two waterproof HDTVs that remain hidden when not in use. Among the tub’s other features are a massage function, multicolored lighting, a hand-held shower unit, automatic disinfection and even a Swarovski-coated Champagne holder. At $47,200, however, the Red Diamond bathtub is not for the faint of wallet.

Kallista Archeo Copper Bathtub – $67,557

Made of solid copper, this tub is hand-crafted by the very people who refurbished Lady Liberty’s torch. Over five feet long and two-and-a-half feet wide, the tub is spacious enough to comfortably accommodate just about anyone. The fluted faucet and hand-held shower unit are designed with the same aesthetic quality as the rest of the tub, featuring a finely engraved starfish-on-seashell knob.

Baldi malachite bathtub – $222,000

This boat-shaped tub, designed by Luca Bojola is made from turqoise malachite that is perfectly complemented by its ornate, 24k gold-plated feet.

Baldi Rock Crystal bathtub – $790,310

Also designed by Luca Bojola, the first of these three-person bathtubs was created in 2008 and shown at that year’s Salone de Mobile. TThat tub was carved from a single piece of Amazonian rock crystal measuring over 8 feet in diameter and sold for over $850,000. This second tub was created for Harrods and, as the exteriors of both tubs were left rough, is as unique as the first. Baldi even offers a rock crystal basin to complement the exquisite bathtub

Sleep Chart

There is an expression, used mostly by very energetic people,that says “there will enough time to sleep when you are dead.” Apparently that is true from looking at the Sleep Schedule Chart, though there seem to be other ample opportunities in life for most people. I am right now in the middle of the retirement demographic and can concur wholeheartedly with what the chart depicts for these “golden” years.