Scratch,
Cool choice for a topic! I first noticed UPS when I was about 7 or 8 in 1981 or so. We ordered a "Yard Blob" (lol) and it came COD from UPS. Anybody know what a "Yard Blob" LOL is?
It was basically a big blue outside water bed. It was tougher than a water bed and was about 12x12 feet. You could jump on it, lay on it or hose it down and run up and dive on it and slide across.
I never knew anyone else who owned one nor have ever seen one anywhere else. All the kids in my neighborhood loved it and would be at my house everynight during the summer for whiffle ball and the "Yard Blob" LOL. It was positioned in my yard so that is was part of the basepath between 2nd and 3rd. Kids would slide over it to get to 3rd regardless if it was neccesary or not!
I also remember seeing the truck on my street from this point forward. I also remember thinking to myself what "UPS" stood for. I remember my initial thought being it stood for "United states Package Service" (I know it doesn't jive fully) . I also remember thinking that those brown US postal service mail relay boxes were for UPS. I thought they were what mailboxes were to the postman.
My first experience dealing with them and understanding how tough a job it is was in 1992 when I worked as a reciever. The driver was a woman and she would double park in front of our overhead door (it was a busy street and impossible to back to without blocking the entire lane of traffic. It would be around noon and her entire floor was still a mess. Always without a smile, she would hand me DIAD I and I would "sign my life away" as some not very funny customers like to say
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Anyway Scratch, I think this is an intersting topic and look forward to reading everyone else's posts, thanks!
Brownie