Special Delivery

[PrettySquareGal]

I overheard a post office worker explain to an elderly lady at the counter that "special delivery" no longer exists.

How sad.

Also of note in the post office is a mural painted during the depression. I learned that the goverment paid unemployed artists to decorate the lobbies.

 

[scotrace]

What was Special Delivery, anyway?

 

[PrettySquareGal]

A romantic way of saying express mail. Or maybe there was more to it! Anyone?

 

[KittyT]

Also of note in the post office is a mural painted during the depression. I learned that the goverment paid unemployed artists to decorate the lobbies.

Yes, that was one of the programs instituted under FDR's New Deal. Along with the agricultural and public works programs that were put into place to employ people, there were also programs for artists and (I believe) musicians.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Special Delivery is a postal service for letters and/or packages of particular importance. Its meaning varies among postal services. The United States Postal Service offered special delivery from 1885 to 2001 wherein the letter would be dispatched more immediately and directly from the receiving post office to the recipient rather than being put in mail for distribution on the regular delivery route. Royal Mail presently labels several expedited services as "Special Delivery."

1944 13c Special Delivery stamp

Thanks to Wikipedia.

 

[Barry]

My former place of employment displayed a number of Depression-era murals. Visitors and family members of staff loved to come and look at them.

Additionally, an area in which I routinely worked was lit with lamps designed (I believe) by Carl Paul Jennewein. It was probably one of the most interesting places I've ever worked.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

No North by Northwest plot device, then

I also heard Western Union doesn't send telegrams anymore.

 

[dhermann1]

In the late 19th century most cities had 3 or 4 pickups per day by the mailman, and as many deliveries. You could post a letter in the morning and have it delivered the same day in most towns. When I was a kid in the 1950's that was no longer the case. Special Delivery meant that somebody knocked on yor door with the letter. It was usually something pretty important. The stamps often showed the post office employee on a motorcycle. It was a big deal, and a lot more expensive, like 25 cents, when a regular stamp was 3 cents.

 

[Paisley]

In her 1940 edition of "Ettiquette," Emily Post wrote that if you are having a lousy time as a weekend (or longer-term) guest at someone's house, you can send yourself a telegram and bail out. I guess you'd leave yourself a message on your cell phone now. Does anyone even stay at someone's house for a week or more now?

 

[BegintheBeguine]

That was used in a favorite Ring Lardner story, Liberty Hall. It backfired.
I've seen people page themselves (using a pager, not a page boy) and call themselves on the cell phone.
Was was the line about fish and houseguests?

 

[panamag8or]

Express mail is pretty much the same thing. They have designated vehicles, and even deliver on Sundays.

 

[Undertow]

Many murals in my hometown have been replaced by empty lots, parking ramps and strip malls.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Just this morning I was thinking that the suburban Post Office I sometimes go to doesn't have wanted posters. Hmpf. The Midtown office still had 'em last time I was there. How'm I supposed to recognize the bad guys?

 

[dhermann1]

Telegram vs Special D

Ah, a telegram was a very different thing from a Special Delivery. Telegrams were dictated to the operator, over the phone or more often at the Western Union office (you've seen it in the movies "Arriving Queen Mary. Stop. Meet me there. Stop.")
Special D you had to create it yourself, lick the envelope, stick on the stamp and usually hand it to the man at the window.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Many murals in my hometown have been replaced by empty lots, parking ramps and strip malls.

Dreadful.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of the things that made Special Delivery special was that Sunday delivery was available. I actually had an overdue paycheck delivered to me that way once a few years back -- didn't do me much good, though, since the bank was closed on Sunday....

 

[Viola]

There are lots of city murals here; its one of the best and only working ways to keep graffiti off a big ol' inviting expanse of brick.

-Viola

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Ah, a telegram was a very different thing from a Special Delivery. Telegrams were dictated to the operator, over the phone or more often at the Western Union office (you've seen it in the movies "Arriving Queen Mary. Stop. Meet me there. Stop.")
Special D you had to create it yourself, lick the envelope, stick on the stamp and usually hand it to the man at the window.

Yes, I know. My dad manned a Western Union window for awhile. I was just engaging in my favorite pastime of harrumphing about services that I have recently found out are no longer available.

 

[panamag8or]

There are lots of city murals here; its one of the best and only working ways to keep graffiti off a big ol' inviting expanse of brick.

-Viola

We have those, too. We also have a wall about 1/4 mile long that is reserved for grafitti, memorials, proposals, and such.

See it here.