Hu Seng is a man who listens to his heart.
And when it told him to climb inside a box to be delivered to his girlfriend’s work,
that is precisely what he did.
However, things did not go according to plan.
Those transporting the box had no idea he was inside and had trouble locating the address.
Without enough air he passed out during the delay.
Though still a surprise on arrival, it was not the type he intended.
Believe it or not, Mr. Seng is not the strangest thing to be shipped as we will see in this
episode of The Infographics Show, Weirdest Things People Tried to Send via Mail.
Parcel post delivery started in the United States on January 1st of 1913 and things sent
with the service, while unremarkable at first, have grown increasingly strange ever since.
On the first day it began, items that were shipped included a pitchfork, brooms, carloads
of prunes, and a pot of beans.
The first parcel to be delivered held apples for Woodrow Wilson, the then president elect.
As it was a new service, it took some time to understand what exactly was prohibited.
Things post-office employees had to reject included insects, reptiles, poisonous animals,
dead animals, firearms, poisons, and raw hides.
Unmailable items included a general description of anything that had a bad odor as well.
A live lobster and some shrimp in addition to a brindle bulldog and a coffin, however,
were successfully sent and delivered.
As were other unusual items.
These included children.
The first child to be sent by mail was a ten and three-quarters pound boy in Ohio who was
mailed a few weeks after postal services had begun.
His final destination was his grandmother approximately one mile away.
The cost was 15 cents and his parents prudently made sure to insure the infant for fifty dollars.
Days later, a girl was mailed in Pennsylvania to relatives for 45-cents.
In 1914, May Pierstorff, a five-year-old girl was sent by post in Idaho.
The current weight limit at the time was 50 pounds, and she was luckily in compliance
as she measured just under that amount.
The cost of sending her between two towns was 53-cents and she rode in a mail car along
with the Railway Post Office clerk.
Later in 1914, the Postmaster General decided to prohibit the transfer of human beings from
available services.
However, this did not stop a sleeping 14-pound baby from being delivered a month later or
a six-year-old from being sent from Florida to Virginia the following year.
There are also records of two additional children as well.
A rural carrier transported Mr. and Mrs. Albert Combs’ daughter to her grandmother and a
three-year-old was transported back from her grandparents to her family home.
This last trip, which took place within Kentucky, was investigated by the Cincinnati division
Railway Mail Service superintendent.
He couldn’t understand why human post was continuing once rules had been put in place
to stop it.
Though it took a bit longer than expected, after 1915, no more child packages were sent.
However, two years later, the Postmaster General had to add another rule to the books.
This time, it was a man by the name of W.H.
Coltharp who was seemingly abusing postal services.
Coltharp had the brilliant idea of sending thousands of bricks across more than 400 miles
from where they were made in Salt Lake to where he planned to build a bank in Vernal.
He decided to use parcel post instead of wagon freight and save money.
Coltharp wrapped the bricks in 50-lb packages but mailed them as large one-ton deliveries.
While this was cost effective for him it quickly overwhelmed the post offices on both sides.
Ultimately the bricks were delivered and became the Bank of Vernal, but the experience brought
about critical legislation.
New rules limited individuals to shipping 200 pounds per day.
Further, a statement clarified that buildings were not an acceptable item to mail.
More recently, investigators were curious what could or could not be sent via USPS in
modern times.
So they designed an experiment later published in the Annals of Improbable Research in order
to find out.
Items to be sent were grouped in categories as either valuable, sentimental, unwieldy,
pointless, or suspicious.
A dollar bill in clear plastic and an unwrapped football were in the valuable category and
a can of soup and a lemon were examples of things labeled as pointless.
Overall, 64% of items were successfully delivered by USPS, including a pair of expensive tennis
shoes held together with duct tape, a tooth, a toy that screamed “Let me out of here!
Help!
Let me out of here!” rancid cheese, and a box of dead fish and old seaweed.
Now, while these were delivered, this was not without complaint.
The clerk at pick-up informed the recipient of the shoes that mail needed to be wrapped.
The tooth only went through because, although human remains cannot be mailed, those handling
the package assumed it was sentimental and made an exception as explained with a note.
The smelly cheese arrived at its destination but had at some point been placed in a bag,
and the cardboard box with fish and seaweed resulted in a warning from a postal supervisor
that a fine for mail abuse was possible should such items be sent again.
Other things failed to go through, such as a bottle of water that was consumed by the
postal carrier instead.
A brick, a can of soup, a hammer, some kitty litter, and the same “let me out of here!
Help!” toy that had been wrapped in concealing paper also failed to arrive at their final
destinations.
Then there were items that were flat out refused by post office representatives at the point
of origin.
These included a helium balloon, a bald tire, and a wrapped coconut.
The balloon could not be sent because the transportation of helium is prohibited and
the balloon was not correctly packaged.
The coconut was refused because a certificate from the Department of Agriculture would be
necessary before it could cross state lines.
The bald tire was rejected for reasons currently unknown.
All in all, those who participated in these experiments were impressed with their rate
of success, considering the items involved.
And, in the case of those who came into contact with the fish and seaweed package, investigators
sent them a box of chocolate afterwards as a way to apologize.
The Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Strange Mail Contest is another event, that although amusing
for many, is likely yet another headache for post office staff.
The goal is to see the craziest item that can be sent to the Ripley headquarters in
Orlando, Florida without any kind of packaging and with the postage and address placed on
the item itself.
The winning item in 2014 was a 19-pound tree trunk with a sticking out horseshoe that cost
$30.45 to ship from North Carolina.
Other items of note included a prosthetic arm, a mailbox, a basket of nuts, toilet paper,
and a piece of wood.
While this is a yearly thing, there are other strange items that can be sent in the mail
as often as you like and that have some therapeutic value to boot.
This is due to the surprisingly lucrative market for anonymously sending an enemy something
annoying, gross, or disappointing in the mail.
For example, the Ship Your Enemies Glitter company sends glitter to some sorry soul that
will open the package and thereby cover every surface, crack and cranny with some sparkle
that will likely take years to vanish completely.
This service was so popular, mind you, that its creator found himself begging those using
it to stop.
Other similarly successful products include ShitExpress which sends out horse poop worldwide
and Mayobymail with mayo-filled letters and a note saying “My hate for mayonnaise is
only matched by my hate for you.”
There is even the Ship a Bag of Dicks company that sends out bags of questionably-shaped
candy with the option of adding glitter to the package for some extra offense.
Last but not least, Bird By Mail will send a piece of paper with a printed middle finger
and Ship Your Friends Nothing provides an envelope or box that contains literally nothing
at all.
All of these are ways that people can send a certain something to individuals they hate
or harbor strong negative feelings for, and the post office will help them achieve these
acts of petty, yet satisfying spite.
There are options for those who prefer a more positive approach as well.
These individuals can pay a fee to ship a potato, or potato parcel, in the mail to a
destination of choice.
Now, this is not a normal potato, but a veggie with a note such as “I yam so happy we’re
best spuds” for one buddy from another.
Potato Pals with a photo of someone’s face on a potato’s surface are also an option.
The 28-year-old founder of the business appeared on Shark Tank in 2016 and makes a six-figure
income off the spuds.
Of course, while all of this is fun and games, there are some less playful intentions among
those sending strange packages via the mail.
Inmate Derick LeCompte, for example, tried to send what he claimed was a vial of his
seminal fluid along with a sock shaped as an intimate toy and a naughty note from his
cell to a certain individual.
Of course, this was searched as per prison policy, and resulted in charges and disciplinary
procedures.
Upon appealing an unfavorable decision in which he complained about the consequences,
he came out a loser yet again.
The judges found themselves saying what they likely assumed went without needing to be
said: that the Department of Corrections mail system was not intended for inmates to send
out their bodily fluids or sexual objects to others.
The mail system seems to be used quite frequently by those hoping to send drugs as well.
Police are searching for a man who tried to mail $10,000 worth of marijuana in boxes of
poorly repackaged cereal.
Another was caught sending nine pounds of pot he claimed were magazines.
However, neither of these are comparable to Curran Millican of Oregon state who attempted
to ship as many as 143 pounds of pot across state lines in large styrofoam rocks.
Impressively, Millican’s rocks may have worked if not for their overpowering smell.
However, he won’t have the opportunity to improve his plan anytime soon; charged with
felony possession with intent to distribute he faces up to 20 years in jail.
Meth has been sent under letter labels and heroin has been found in a care package with
m&ms.
Methamphetamine traffickers have shipped Aztec statues and calendars as a way to conceal
their drugs.
No small issue, legislation hoping to make fentanyl and other drugs harder to come by
is currently targeting Postal Service operations.
However, with 1.3 million packages arriving each day from overseas shipments alone, this
is no small task.
Mail services are a wonderful thing that allow us to interact and do business with others
both across the country and around the world.
However, it does have its limits.
While it is harmless enough to send a tooth or a tree trunk or a toilet paper roll, sending
other things such as children, buildings, or yourself, as Hu Seng would agree, are not
the best ideas.
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Which of these items that people have tried to send via the mail is the weirdest?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called Disturbing Wikipedia Pages!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!