[Re: Loose Cannon: Strip Search at the U.S.P.S., Direct Newsline, March 26, 2007 (directmag.com/loosecannon/loose-cannon-strip-search-usps-032507/)]
Read your recent lead-in to the USPS “Strip Search” article. I also received their latest postcard offering various services. I stopped in my local post office Saturday morning to inquire about “Premium Forwarding.” The only thing “premium” was the pricing!
I asked if they could hold my mail and forward it to me in Florida once a week. They explained that the way the system works is the mail carrier puts the mail in a Priority Mail envelope and mails it to you. For this service they get a $10 “Enrollment Fee”, and $10.40 a week, or over $50 for 4 wks! I asked why so much when a Priority Mail stamp is $4.20, and they claim you have to pay the cost of the mail carrier!
What’s next? Charge for Saturday deliveries? (Whoops, let’s not give them any ideas….)
Rob Hawkins
Rodale
Senior Director, Credit Operations
Emmaus, PA
* * * * * * * * *
Richard: You (or “Clifford Berryman”) outright rejected Dilbert, but in this case reality is stranger than fiction. The USPS actually is using Dilbert for their B2B campaign. I get the Dilbert version here at work and the Cathy version at home.
Joseph Pych
President
NextMark, Inc.
Hanover, NH
* * * * * * * * *
Today’s Loose Cannon was very interesting to me as a lifetime reader of comic strips. Thanks for letting the famous Reuben Goldberg be your spokesman. As a long-time fan of Rube Goldberg (1880-1970), I went right to Google Images to search for his fascinating machines and devices that turn simple chores into long, complicated processes.
I found “Self-Operating Napkin” on Google. A man is eating soup in a restaurant with a complicated rack on his head. A parrot jumps from his perch on the rack, setting off a sky-rocket, which cuts a string with a scythe, which releases a clock pendulum that holds the napkin.
Here’s Rube Goldberg’s famous caption style:
“As you raise spoon of soup (A) to your mouth it pulls string (B), thereby jerking ladle (C) which throws cracker (D) past parrot (E). Parrot jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and lights automatic cigar lighter (J), setting off sky-rocket (K) which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M) and allow pendulum with attached napkin to swing back and forth thereby wiping off your chin.”
Rube Goldberg Inc. at www.rube-goldberg.com is the main source for Goldberg memorabilia. It has an animated opening page that shows one of his one of his devices in action.
Fred Morath
Fred Morath Direct Marketing
Natick, MA
Network
