Special delivery is better than first class, but parcel post is significantly worse. Combining the two terms is just silly, Mr. Smith should have left out the special delivery part.
P.S. As hopelessly dated (and relatively worthless) as these “Mutt & Jeff” strips almost always are, it is a refreshing change to see the real signature of the original author, and not the copyright vulture who has usually defaced the strips.
What’s odd about this is that it was written in an era when “first class” and “special delivery” had meaning (along with “air mail”): if we knew right way this is wrong, wouldn’t everybody back then?
And you’re right, leaving out “special delivery” would have been the solution.
ja is correct, at least as of 1968/69 when I was a summer temp/sub/carrier in Miami.
“Wasn’t Special Delivery a step above First Class?”
That’s the joke. First class is better in passenger travel, but worse for cargo/mail.
There’s an old canard about a German kid coming home from his first day in school; when his mom asks how it was, he replies, “They said I was going to be in First Class (*), but we have to sit on wooden benches.”
P.S. (*) German for “first grade”.
Looking it up, I was surprised to discover that the USPS did not eliminate “Special Delivery” until 1997, as well as by the fact that a special delivery stamp cost all of 60 cents in 1971 (which I doubt came even close to covering the additional costs).
Apparently, the British postal service used to have multiple deliveries per day. Agatha Christie used the resulting details as important clues in several of her “Poirot” mysteries. Some of these deliveries took place as late as 8:30 or 9:30 PM (at least in the BBC TV versions).
ONCE UPON A TIME (and only ONCE), the US postal service (this was in my youth, so it was still a part of the Federal Guvmint), there was a week (or two?) of twice-a-day delivery during the Christmas Card Season.
Does anyone else remember this? I can’t imagine my mind made this up – it would have no reason to do so.
“[Mail carriers] were instructed to deliver letters frequently and promptly — generally twice a day to homes and up to four times a day to businesses. The second residential delivery was discontinued on April 17, 1950, in most cities.”
Had to be later than that for me to remember it, as we (mother, father & I) didn’t emigrate to US ’til December 1954.
As a lad in NYCity during the ’40s & ’50s, I observed as many as 5 mail deliveries per day during Christmas card season. Was the fact that I lived in a parsonage a factor?
“as well as by the fact that a special delivery stamp cost all of 60 cents in 1971 (which I doubt came even close to covering the additional costs)”
Considering that was a 900% mark up of the cost of 6 cents I think it did.
>Does anyone else remember this? I can’t imagine my mind made this up – it would have no reason to do so.
“Think of Peter the Postman
who crosses the ice
once every day—
and on Saturdays, twice”
I asked my boss of 30+ years, whose father was a mail delivery person (or mailman, to be non-pc), and he DOES remember this happening one year, altho not what year it was.
I remember twice-a-day mail deliver in Philadelphia, so it was probably in the early 60s. I also remember that they dropped it for residential delivery, but kept it for businesses (but I don’t know when). I also don’t know when they dropped it fully.
Early 60s would be about right.
A few years ago, we had twice-daily mail deliveries at least a couple of times: it was Christmas season, and I guess they thought it was more efficient to send the carriers on two runs.
And of course with the USPS “working for” Amazon now, sometimes the same carrier comes by twice, the second time with some package.
During Christmas season, the carrier may like scheduling a visit while householders are home — opportunity for tipping?
Mail delivery persons these days are not allowed tips, per se. I suppose a fruitcake wouldn’t go amiss . . . good defensive weapon if needed against dogs. Seriously, tho, I do remember reading that somewhere – no MONETARY tips allowed.
I’ve been known to leave a hot or cold beverage for the mail person in extremely cold or hot weather.
Thanks to this discussion, I suddenly remember we hadn’t picked up our mail yet. For 55 years or so, mail was put into a mailbox next to the door. Now, we have to remember to go to the mailbox by the street; which means, of course, there’s no place to leave a beverage, hot OR cold.
One benefit of a roadside mailbox is that dogs no longer go berserk when they hear the ‘clunk’ of the mailbox located next to the front door. Package delivery still gets ’em going, however.
In one of the Bobbsey Twins book they run home after school to check the afternoon mail. (Hmm, then again we are suppose to believe in another book that the younger son was lost in the store and the mother did not get someone to look for him when she notices him missing and he stays there into the night after closing.)
That mention of a child being “delivered” by mail is not the only instance. Apparently there were babies mailed as well. https://uselessinformation.org/152/
There used to be a possibility to send live beings through the Royal Mail; it was used for babies, by adults trying to reach the prime minister (who had the right to refuse the mail, so, no good) and also by a journalist during WWII: he wanted to be evacuated from Jersey before the German invasion, no room for civilian passengers on the boat, but there was room for the mail…
In the XIXth century, there were several mail deliveries a day in the cities; in the countryside, it was once or twice a week.
Think of mail in the 1850’s as the technological equivalent of telephone a few decades ago or internet nowadays: it was a necessity for efficient trade / finance.
A recent trend is to have one cluster of mailboxes for the whole block of houses. Easier for the delivery end, but more of a pain at the checking end.
@CIDU Bill
>>Wasn’t Special Delivery a step above First Class?
Yes, Special Delivery was a step above First Class, but Parcel Post was not conceived as a second class delivery mechanism. For the first 140 years or so of its existence the US Postal Service did not deliver packages of any significant size. In fact, the USPS was prohibited by law from delivering packages over 11 pounds or so (the limit may have varied over the years). “Parcels” (larger packages) were the exclusive domain independent express services (Oh the Wells Fargo wagon is comin’ down the street…). However, along with the consolidation of the railway industry came a consolidation of express agencies to the point that the express industry collapsed into just a handful of agencies (all railroad owned) that more-or-less operated as a cartel, agreeing to to compete with each other and keeping prices high. This, combined with the success of the Rural Free Delivery (RFD) program in the late 1800s, drove the US government to have the Postal Service enter the package delivery process. So in 1912, the US initiated its domestic Parcel Post service for packages up to 50 pounds (this was later increased to 70). In short, First Class was for letters and flats, and Parcel Post was for packages. Special Delivery could be applied to either.
>>WHY would somebody use Special Delivery on Parcel Post mail?
For the same reason someone might use FedEx or USPS Priority Overnight today: the package needs to be delivered ASAP. Choosing special delivery allowed for the timely and cost-effectively delivery of perishable goods (e.g., eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables) into the cities from the out-lying rural areas. This helped to increase the prosperity of farmers, which, in turn, drove an increase in the prosperity of urban manufacturers, as they now had a cost-effective mechanism for delivering their products to rural America.
As far as comic, I think part of the joke is the fact for postal delivery, “First Class” isn’t an option, even for a parcel as diminutive as Jeff, nor would it get him lunch, even though he is (in all likelihood) traveling by train.
Excellent explanation, ja.
My question is, why $10.40? Seems an oddly specific amount. (Not from Jeff’s perspective — that’s obviously the absolute most he could scrounge up — but from the author’s perspective.)
@ Powers – I assume that the similarity to the tax form number is nothing more than a chance coincidence, but nevertheless, I still checked to see whether the strip was dated April 15th.
On my post above, “to to compete” was intended to be “not to compete”
You can still send a live chicken by parcel post, if for any reason you want to.
Back when Jay Ward Enterprises had a storefront weirdo gift shop in Los Angeles (and issued a mail order catalog), one of the services they offered was sending an unwrapped coconut through the mail. Apparently they just stenciled or etched or whatever in the address and stamped on the proper number of stamps. Never ordered the service, so I don’t know if it actually worked, but I haven’t seen anything similar offered by anyone else in decades, so perhaps the USPS realized their regs had a big Coconut Loophole and quietly rewrote them to close it.
Olivier – the mail was needed for financial matters at least as far back as the 18th century – one would write to one’s factor in London or a couple of the large cities in Scotland to order fashionable items in the smaller places in in England/Scotland as well as in the colonies. You would also be using the mail to send the paperwork for items shipped to same for to be sold for your account (such as barrels of tobacco).
Until the switch to much business being conducted by Internet, mail was still being used extensively for business – orders coming in and also a lot of shipping going out (Fed Ex & UPS are only since sometime in my adult memory). It is still used today by lots of businesses for orders and for shipping (we only ship USPS for our craft business as we know the problems we have had with shipments coming to us with the other companies. It may not be needed as much (as even the 1980s), but is still vital for many businesses.
Well, I know more about French mail than English mail and France was late compared to England in economy matters.
When I started working in the 90’s, most orders were handled by phone/fax, rather than mail, but you’re right: all the bills came through the mail (and were paid by cheque).
Comics I Don't Understand 
Special delivery is better than first class, but parcel post is significantly worse. Combining the two terms is just silly, Mr. Smith should have left out the special delivery part.
P.S. As hopelessly dated (and relatively worthless) as these “Mutt & Jeff” strips almost always are, it is a refreshing change to see the real signature of the original author, and not the copyright vulture who has usually defaced the strips.
What’s odd about this is that it was written in an era when “first class” and “special delivery” had meaning (along with “air mail”): if we knew right way this is wrong, wouldn’t everybody back then?
And you’re right, leaving out “special delivery” would have been the solution.
“Special Delivery” meant that the post office would deliver the letter/parcel as soon as it arrived at the post office, rather than waiting for the next scheduled delivery. It was an extra charge option that could be applied to Parcel Post as well as First Class. Here’s a 1919 reference to a rise in parcel post special delivery packages:
https://books.google.com/books?id=4mgtAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA8-PA21&lpg=RA8-PA21&dq=%22parcel+post+special+delivery%22&source=bl&ots=DheQ0zYYlH&sig=ACfU3U1l4MdfUDzXKr1Dc3gm7S3MUwbimQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6urCA8ejgAhWMUt8KHay5D2YQ6AEwDHoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22parcel%20post%20special%20delivery%22&f=false
ja is correct, at least as of 1968/69 when I was a summer temp/sub/carrier in Miami.
“Wasn’t Special Delivery a step above First Class?”
That’s the joke. First class is better in passenger travel, but worse for cargo/mail.
There’s an old canard about a German kid coming home from his first day in school; when his mom asks how it was, he replies, “They said I was going to be in First Class (*), but we have to sit on wooden benches.”
P.S. (*) German for “first grade”.
Looking it up, I was surprised to discover that the USPS did not eliminate “Special Delivery” until 1997, as well as by the fact that a special delivery stamp cost all of 60 cents in 1971 (which I doubt came even close to covering the additional costs).
Apparently, the British postal service used to have multiple deliveries per day. Agatha Christie used the resulting details as important clues in several of her “Poirot” mysteries. Some of these deliveries took place as late as 8:30 or 9:30 PM (at least in the BBC TV versions).
ONCE UPON A TIME (and only ONCE), the US postal service (this was in my youth, so it was still a part of the Federal Guvmint), there was a week (or two?) of twice-a-day delivery during the Christmas Card Season.
Does anyone else remember this? I can’t imagine my mind made this up – it would have no reason to do so.
Andréa: From the USPS website:
“[Mail carriers] were instructed to deliver letters frequently and promptly — generally twice a day to homes and up to four times a day to businesses. The second residential delivery was discontinued on April 17, 1950, in most cities.”
Had to be later than that for me to remember it, as we (mother, father & I) didn’t emigrate to US ’til December 1954.
As a lad in NYCity during the ’40s & ’50s, I observed as many as 5 mail deliveries per day during Christmas card season. Was the fact that I lived in a parsonage a factor?
“as well as by the fact that a special delivery stamp cost all of 60 cents in 1971 (which I doubt came even close to covering the additional costs)”
Considering that was a 900% mark up of the cost of 6 cents I think it did.
>Does anyone else remember this? I can’t imagine my mind made this up – it would have no reason to do so.
“Think of Peter the Postman
who crosses the ice
once every day—
and on Saturdays, twice”
I asked my boss of 30+ years, whose father was a mail delivery person (or mailman, to be non-pc), and he DOES remember this happening one year, altho not what year it was.
In 1914, a human was actually mailed via parcel post– a little girl who wanted to visit her grandparents. The girl, Charlotte May Pierstorff, was under the 50-pound limit, and was allowed to ride in the post office section of the baggage car, and was delivered to her grandparents by the local mail carrier. See: https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/past/customers-and-communities/reaching-rural-america/parcel-post-service.html (at the bottom of the page).
The story is the subject of a kids’ book called “Mailing May.”
Thanks for the information, Ja, but now the question is WHY would somebody use Special Delivery on Parcel Post mail?
Well, obviously so that she would be delivered as soon as she arrived, and not have to hang out at the post office for 12 hours…
Some trains had a post office car as part of the consist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_post_office
I remember twice-a-day mail deliver in Philadelphia, so it was probably in the early 60s. I also remember that they dropped it for residential delivery, but kept it for businesses (but I don’t know when). I also don’t know when they dropped it fully.
Early 60s would be about right.
A few years ago, we had twice-daily mail deliveries at least a couple of times: it was Christmas season, and I guess they thought it was more efficient to send the carriers on two runs.
And of course with the USPS “working for” Amazon now, sometimes the same carrier comes by twice, the second time with some package.
During Christmas season, the carrier may like scheduling a visit while householders are home — opportunity for tipping?
Mail delivery persons these days are not allowed tips, per se. I suppose a fruitcake wouldn’t go amiss . . . good defensive weapon if needed against dogs. Seriously, tho, I do remember reading that somewhere – no MONETARY tips allowed.
I’ve been known to leave a hot or cold beverage for the mail person in extremely cold or hot weather.
Thanks to this discussion, I suddenly remember we hadn’t picked up our mail yet. For 55 years or so, mail was put into a mailbox next to the door. Now, we have to remember to go to the mailbox by the street; which means, of course, there’s no place to leave a beverage, hot OR cold.
One benefit of a roadside mailbox is that dogs no longer go berserk when they hear the ‘clunk’ of the mailbox located next to the front door. Package delivery still gets ’em going, however.
In one of the Bobbsey Twins book they run home after school to check the afternoon mail. (Hmm, then again we are suppose to believe in another book that the younger son was lost in the store and the mother did not get someone to look for him when she notices him missing and he stays there into the night after closing.)
No cash gifts is correct. $20 and less gifts okay. https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2012/pb22349/html/cover_025.htm
That mention of a child being “delivered” by mail is not the only instance. Apparently there were babies mailed as well. https://uselessinformation.org/152/
There used to be a possibility to send live beings through the Royal Mail; it was used for babies, by adults trying to reach the prime minister (who had the right to refuse the mail, so, no good) and also by a journalist during WWII: he wanted to be evacuated from Jersey before the German invasion, no room for civilian passengers on the boat, but there was room for the mail…
In the XIXth century, there were several mail deliveries a day in the cities; in the countryside, it was once or twice a week.
Think of mail in the 1850’s as the technological equivalent of telephone a few decades ago or internet nowadays: it was a necessity for efficient trade / finance.
A recent trend is to have one cluster of mailboxes for the whole block of houses. Easier for the delivery end, but more of a pain at the checking end.
@CIDU Bill
>>Wasn’t Special Delivery a step above First Class?
Yes, Special Delivery was a step above First Class, but Parcel Post was not conceived as a second class delivery mechanism. For the first 140 years or so of its existence the US Postal Service did not deliver packages of any significant size. In fact, the USPS was prohibited by law from delivering packages over 11 pounds or so (the limit may have varied over the years). “Parcels” (larger packages) were the exclusive domain independent express services (Oh the Wells Fargo wagon is comin’ down the street…). However, along with the consolidation of the railway industry came a consolidation of express agencies to the point that the express industry collapsed into just a handful of agencies (all railroad owned) that more-or-less operated as a cartel, agreeing to to compete with each other and keeping prices high. This, combined with the success of the Rural Free Delivery (RFD) program in the late 1800s, drove the US government to have the Postal Service enter the package delivery process. So in 1912, the US initiated its domestic Parcel Post service for packages up to 50 pounds (this was later increased to 70). In short, First Class was for letters and flats, and Parcel Post was for packages. Special Delivery could be applied to either.
>>WHY would somebody use Special Delivery on Parcel Post mail?
For the same reason someone might use FedEx or USPS Priority Overnight today: the package needs to be delivered ASAP. Choosing special delivery allowed for the timely and cost-effectively delivery of perishable goods (e.g., eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables) into the cities from the out-lying rural areas. This helped to increase the prosperity of farmers, which, in turn, drove an increase in the prosperity of urban manufacturers, as they now had a cost-effective mechanism for delivering their products to rural America.
As far as comic, I think part of the joke is the fact for postal delivery, “First Class” isn’t an option, even for a parcel as diminutive as Jeff, nor would it get him lunch, even though he is (in all likelihood) traveling by train.
Excellent explanation, ja.
My question is, why $10.40? Seems an oddly specific amount. (Not from Jeff’s perspective — that’s obviously the absolute most he could scrounge up — but from the author’s perspective.)
@ Powers – I assume that the similarity to the tax form number is nothing more than a chance coincidence, but nevertheless, I still checked to see whether the strip was dated April 15th.
On my post above, “to to compete” was intended to be “not to compete”
You can still send a live chicken by parcel post, if for any reason you want to.
Back when Jay Ward Enterprises had a storefront weirdo gift shop in Los Angeles (and issued a mail order catalog), one of the services they offered was sending an unwrapped coconut through the mail. Apparently they just stenciled or etched or whatever in the address and stamped on the proper number of stamps. Never ordered the service, so I don’t know if it actually worked, but I haven’t seen anything similar offered by anyone else in decades, so perhaps the USPS realized their regs had a big Coconut Loophole and quietly rewrote them to close it.
Olivier – the mail was needed for financial matters at least as far back as the 18th century – one would write to one’s factor in London or a couple of the large cities in Scotland to order fashionable items in the smaller places in in England/Scotland as well as in the colonies. You would also be using the mail to send the paperwork for items shipped to same for to be sold for your account (such as barrels of tobacco).
Until the switch to much business being conducted by Internet, mail was still being used extensively for business – orders coming in and also a lot of shipping going out (Fed Ex & UPS are only since sometime in my adult memory). It is still used today by lots of businesses for orders and for shipping (we only ship USPS for our craft business as we know the problems we have had with shipments coming to us with the other companies. It may not be needed as much (as even the 1980s), but is still vital for many businesses.
Well, I know more about French mail than English mail and France was late compared to England in economy matters.
When I started working in the 90’s, most orders were handled by phone/fax, rather than mail, but you’re right: all the bills came through the mail (and were paid by cheque).