If you’re in the logistics industry, you know courier loads can cover a large range of items, from medical equipment to marshmallows. However, no matter how diverse your cargo may be, you’re probably not expecting it to surprise you or puzzle you in any way. But that’s not always the case.
Read on for some of the strangest courier loads of all time. You never know, maybe one of these items will show up in one of your future deliveries.
The Original Deliveroo
Long before Just Eat and Deliveroo were part of our everyday life, one UK woman tried to ship her son (who, mind you, lived over 450 miles away from her) a delicious home-cooked meal – in this case, a piping hot shepherd’s pie! That’s a very long way for a takeaway to go…
The Snack
While we’re on the topic of travelling treats, one woman once mailed her friend a banana. Now, fruit and veg are common kinds of courier loads so this may not seem all that unusual. However, the banana was not in a box or parcel of any kind – it travelled completely by itself. The sender had written the address of the fruit’s skin, placed a stamp on it, slapped on a ‘Handle with Care’ warning label (bananas do bruise easily, after all) and posted it.
The Building
An American man named W H Coltharp once mailed an entire building through the US Postal Service. Of course, he didn’t send the whole thing at once; he sent it brick by brick (by brick by brick…). His reasoning? He was building a bank in Utah but thought the best bricks available were in Salt Lake City. To avoid paying a significantly higher cost to have them moved by wagon freight, he instead chose to send them in 50-pound packages through the post.
The Social Experiment
The people behind Improbable Research, a satirical academic journal, attempted to turn courier loads into a social experiment. They mailed a selection of downright weird items to see just what would be delivered. Attempts included a street sign, a balloon, a molar and a very creepy toy, which was a monkey housed in a box and addressed to ‘Little Johnnie’. The catch? Every time the box was shaken, the inanimate object would scream, ‘Help! Let me out of here!’ Aren’t you glad you weren’t the delivery driver?
The Fan Mail
Fans send their favourite celebrities the strangest things. The Jonas Brothers once received a dead baby shark, while Taylor Swift was gifted a lovely portrait of herself painted on a turtle shell.
So there you have it: some of the weirdest items couriers have ever had to deliver. From bananas to buildings, people working in the logistics industry have always had to move unusual things. Perhaps it will make you more curious about the contents of your cargo after reading this article.
Author Plate
Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world’s largest neutral trading hub for same day courier work in the express freight exchange industry. Numerous transport exchange businesses are networked together on their website, trading jobs and capacity through what is now the fastest growing Freight Exchange in the UK.