this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2026

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submitted 3 days ago by The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world to c/memes@lemmy.world

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[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 238 points 3 days ago (6 children)

I honestly think it's kinda sweet how it worked to be honest.
People showed up, gave their kid postage, and told the clerk they were mailing them. Clerk was confused for a minute, and then conceded that there was nothing technically forbidden about that. Kid hops on the scale, postage is correct, and the kid waits behind the counter until the trip to train, where they ride with the operator.

Basically people gently gaming the system and the people involved saying "you're technically correct" and then looking after a random child.
They only stopped it because they decided you can't operate a train and keep a kid safe at the same time, and weight is not a great way to price childcare.

[–] sunbytes@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Honestly just mailing a kid back and forth is probably cheaper than childcare.

[–] sunbytes@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Plus, they don't stack well

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 129 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I actually think these types of thing are a healthy thing for society.

The fact some parents were like “I can’t afford a train ticket” and some postal workers just went with it is great.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

i mean, some parents are currently like "i can only afford one plane ticket" and just have to hope the adult their kid gets sat by is safe. it kind of feels the same way.

[–] matlag@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

A plane has at least a lot of people around. In postal service, one can assume the kid spends quite some time alone with the operator. You just have to trust that random person!

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

Going through the postal service might have been safer than other forms of travel because there would have been more explicit exchanges of custody. Like put a kid on a passenger train and they could just get off and get lost before getting on a connecting train and who knows what happened to them? They arrived on train A but never got on train B.

Whereas with mail, the kid becomes the operator's responsibility. If the kid is handed over to the operator to ride train A but then is nowhere to be found at the destination, then that operator is the prime suspect. Or the operator hands the kid off to the next operator in the journey and the kid is now their responsibility.

And even if you have a babysitter, passenger stations are going to be a lot more crowded than cargo stations, so keeping track of a kid will be a lot easier, plus the driver is the babysitter for the postal service, so they won't miss their train or take the wrong one by accident (unless they are routed incorrectly lol).

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

and weight is not a great way to price childcare.

I'd like to hear your solution then!

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Look, I never claimed to be a genius. You can't just go asking people questions like that and expect them to know.
I just know that childcare for a bushel of babies shouldn't be the same as for an individual seven year old.

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[–] Batman@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Just knowing about FedEx and the shit they pull, if they did ship a kid you'd never hear about it.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If FedEx or UPS shipped a kid, they'd end up killing it if they treated the child like any other package they handle.

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[–] TomMasz@piefed.social 90 points 3 days ago (6 children)

My wife's grandfather worked for the post office in a rural area and delivered live chicks to farms. With enough postage you could mail just about anything.

[–] Theatomictruth@lemmy.dbzer0.com 59 points 3 days ago (9 children)

You can still mail order live chicks

[–] Aqivex@fedinsfw.app 20 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Not only that, USPS is the only "major" carrier who will do so.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 18 points 3 days ago

It's funny to put major in quotes. If you look at shipping volumes then USPS is really the only major carrier. Since they have to deliver everywhere they deliver something like 120 billion things a year, where the second is like...7 billion.

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[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 3 days ago

Yeah they are quite hardy. Have ordered on 2 seperate occasions, all arrive healthy. When a chick is born they essentially consume the yolk which will allow them to go a couple days without needing food/water. Being a live shipment you usually pick it up at the post office, so it doesn't have to get trucked around all day. (Also meaning you can grab them as soon as they are supposed to be there and get them all settled in under a heat source and food/water quickly).

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

And bees, and crickets. Different boxes tho

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[–] AmyAye@nord.pub 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

And boxes of spiders.

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[–] AviAdi@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Imagine having chick trafficking on your resume.

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[–] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 17 points 3 days ago

There was also a guy who mailed an entire bank to another city brick-by-brick.

[–] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

It’s still pretty common to mail live bees (nuclear colonies).

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[–] Garbagio@lemmy.zip 43 points 3 days ago (6 children)

Miss me with the pro-privatized corporate slop. Where my public service homies at?

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[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

People weren’t using enough stamps.

It’s fine when the baby is shipped but then it grows and it doesn’t have enough stamps for the weight at delivery.

[–] monotremata@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Reminds me of Futurama. "You're under arrest for child cruelty, child endangerment, depriving children of food, selling children AS food, and misrepresenting the weight of livestock!"

[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Gasp! My favorite show! You’re my best friend now.

“Daddy Bender, we’re hungry.”

“What is it with you kids? Every other day it’s food, food, food.”

[–] YaDownWitCPP@lemmy.world 57 points 3 days ago (3 children)

With FedEx the child would be neither living or breathing when it arrived.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 34 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ring camera video of driver yeeting child out the door of the truck and 20 feet to the porch

[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 24 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Literally watched an amazon driver do this the other day.

*I feel it's important to clarify I mean with a package, not a child

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[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 3 days ago

DHL the kid would be delivered two counties away to the wrong address and then they would refuse to take your calls when you try to figure out where it got dropped off.

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[–] percent@infosec.pub 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Fun fact: USPS still ships livestock

[–] offspec@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Less fun fact: USPS in recent years has been stacking things on the chicken boxes :(

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[–] carrylex@lemmy.world 24 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Context

Tbf most of the other companies were not around back then (100 years ago) so maybe they would have also shipped kids (for profit)...

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It was only domestic shipping.

The US also had a history of shipping people as cargo across the ocean for profit.

[–] carrylex@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

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[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 29 points 3 days ago

Still would use over fedex

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

now the GOP is trying to USPS to discredit mail in ballots.

[–] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago

Also to fuck up the upcoming Census so they can further steal more representation they shouldn't have.

[–] Limonene@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Nothing sent by DHL, UPS or Fedex is mail.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

yeah they're parcel services, not mail services

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[–] ZAP@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 days ago

Well… perhaps they should be looking at the H in DHL like that.

[–] JayDee@lemmy.world 29 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Here's some context. Context

I do love that these postmen also just staight-up posed for photos with the babies they were carrying. Staight up the same shit we'd do now.

Also this seems like the exact kind of child endangerment that would happen in a Ghibli film.

[–] Skyrmir@lemmy.world 29 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's the living and breathing part the others have a problem with.

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[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Where the kids safe and healthy when they arrived?

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Generally yes.

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[–] outlawcarl@fedinsfw.app 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Royal mail posted more....

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[–] remon@ani.social 15 points 3 days ago (4 children)

You can still mail bees!

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[–] Pudutr0n@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They were breathing when they stamped em.

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