Railroad Forums
Moderator: Robert Paniagua
Otto Vondrak wrote:[moved to operations from equipment- ov]It took deregulation and time, but UPS and Fed Ex have morphed into the true modern-day successor to REA. At one time you needed an account to ship via these carriers, but today you can just go to their own retail stores (The UPS Store and FedEx Kinkos) or partner locations (Staples ships UPS, the post office ships FedEx, etc.) and conveniently ship your package. UPS ground service is much better than the unpredictable parcel post service offered by the USPS - you get overnight delivery within a 400 mile radius, and two to three day delivery to much of the country for a comparable cost.
We used to have something called Railway Express Agency. They had a built in network of agencies- almost every passenger station in America was a "retail outlet" to ship a package by REA. There were a lot more passenger routes, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Express_Agency
-otto-
Does FedEx even ship by rail?Yes, they do, now that they have ground services. Not much though. Much of it is peak loading and trailer repositioning.