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Downstrike's Job As A Courier Driver In Alturas And Modoc County

Downstrike's Internet Services Rapid Package Delivery Airborne Express California Overnight

On his offline job, Downstrike, aka Sam Thorne, was a Courier Driver for Rapid Package Delivery, and carried deliveries on Rapid's own routes and for companies who cannot afford to send their own drivers into the rurals. Rapid Package Delivery serves as a courier service throughout most of northern California, providing service from Sacramento to Yreka, and from Eureka and Crescent City to Cedarville and Herlong. We carry mail and freight for numerous regular customers among the businesses on our routes, and for several other courier and freight services who cannot afford to send their own drivers into rural areas such as Modoc County. These companies include, Airborne Express, California Overnight, Golden State Overnight, Emery Worldwide, and Courier Express. Downstrike first went to work for Rapid Package Delivery while living in Susanville and served as a relief driver there during 1994 and 1995, with Jim Feaster and Jim Cote as the primary drivers. (And was saddened recently to learn that both had passed away about a year ago.) As well as pick-ups and deliveries in Susanville, routes frequently took him to Johnstonville, Janesville, Milford, Doyle, Herlong, Standish, Litchfield, Lake Forest Estates, and the High Desert Prison construction site. After moving back to Modoc, he again served as a relief driver in Alturas and surrounding areas during 1997 and 1998, with Jerry Snavely as the primary driver. Downstrike was saddened along with the rest of the community when Jerry passed away in 1998. This is not the way Downstrike likes to obtain promotions! Still, Downstrike became the primary Courier Driver in Alturas, and hired Dave Thorne as a relief driver. When Downstrike moved away in September 1999, Dave became the primary driver for Alturas, and he eventually hired Chris Calhoun as a relief driver. As of December 2000, Dave has become disabled, and Chris became the primary driver. Chris no longer drivers for RPD, Downstrike has lost contact with RPD and its drivers.  The last he heard, in 2004, is that Rapid Package Delivery has abandoned this route. Inconveniences of Rural Areas Besides Alturas, we frequently have deliveries in Canby, Cal Pines and Modoc Estates, and occasionally in Cedarville, Davis Creek, Likely, or Eagleville, and some of the rurals between the towns. Deliveries may be made to farther locations if the sender wishes to pay the expense. We pick up outgoing mail and freight around noon in Alturas and meet another Rapid Package driver, Steve, in Canby to exchange the outgoing for incoming deliveries. Depending on weather and other conditions, we usually begin making deliveries back in Alturas around 2:00 PM, and get to everyone as quickly as we can. This means that unless very special arrangements have been made, anything we may be carrying for you will not arrive before then, regardless what you may have been told by the sender. There is no service available in this area for Saturday or Sunday, unless very special arrangements have been made. The "very special arrangements" mentioned here would have to be arranged through the sender's courier service, and would be quite expensive. Alturas is in what Airborne Express calls a "black zone". This means that they can not guarantee what day a delivery will arrive, regardless what the sender may tell you. However, when the sender pays to have an item delivered by a given date, it usually is delivered by that date. Similarly, items sent through overnight services are almost always delivered the day after they are sent, but unless very special arrangements are made, a time of day can not be guaranteed, regardless what the sender may tell you. Yes, this will be inconvenient at times, but since your deliveries do not arrive in Redding until 9:00 AM, and must be driven from there, it is unavoidable. If you're really rural Downstrike knows from first-hand experience just how belligerent some businesses are if you tell them you don't have an address number. Also, just how uncooperative some businesses are about the address they put on your shipping label. One mail-order company that will remain unnamed here absolutely insists on using your street address when shipping by the Post Office, and on using your postal address when shipping by any other carrier, and has lost a lot of business because of it. However, if you can obtain the cooperation of the sender, it's best to use something resembling a street address when sending by any carrier other than the Post Office, because only the Post Office can deliver to a postal box. If you don't know which carrier will be used, it's best to have both addresses on the label. This also applies to shipment by Roadway Package Service, (which should not at all be confused with Rapid Package Delivery), because they are inconsistent about whether they deliver here themselves, or put it in the mail at Carson City for the Post Office to deliver here. They have even had Rapid Package Delivery deliver and pick up for them here, but not lately, with the result that people in Alturas needing a delivery picked up by Roadway Package Service have been known to wait for weeks on end for someone to pick it up. If anyone so affected, such as those at the Modoc County Office of Education, Modoc High School, or the Cal Pines CSD reads this, you have Downstrike's sympathy, because Downstrike is still waiting since March 1999 for a package sent from Santa Barbara! You Can Help We are learning just how many online businesses are being operated in homes at the end of Modoc jeep trails. We will do our best to find you, but you can really make a difference as to how quickly that happens, or even whether we succeed. If your neighborhood doesn't have house numbers, or you don't even have a neighborhood, see if the sender will use a descriptive address. For example, "Second house on right, uphill from Grande", along with your road's name. Modoc county is beginning to assign house numbers in the rurals, but until they are posted on people's houses or driveways, they're still not much help. Until people are notified what their numbers are, very few are being posted. The Modoc County Sheriff's Office was working on it, the last Downstrike heard. Airborne Express requires senders to place the recipient's phone number on the label. Unfortunately, some senders, such as Sears, make their own rules, and Airborne has to put up with it in order to do business with that big a business. If nothing else works we will try to phone you for instructions. But if your number isn't on the label and isn't listed, we'll never find it. If you're too far out of town, the carrier may be unwilling to pay the extra mileage to have a delivery made to your location. In most cases, seven miles out of Alturas is the limit. We can make exceptions for the Cal Pines Lake Units since they are between Alturas and Canby. If it's too far, we will need to phone and make arrangements for delivery within an acceptable distance. Again, your phone number is crucial. If we can't locate you, we have no choice but to return your delivery. Sure - the driver could use a new PC, but he isn't allowed to keep yours, no matter how badly addressed it is. (;^) What We Deliver Medical supplies from pharmaceutical companies to pharmacies, hospitals, and individuals. Specimens from doctors, hospitals, and veterinarians to labs. Lab reports to doctors and hospitals. Dentures and eyeglasses for dentists and optometrists, to and from labs. Photographic film to labs and developed photos to merchants. Documentation between businesses and branch offices. Documents - but not money - between bank branches. Parts of numerous kinds and sizes to repair shops. Packages whose contents we may never know, but which are labeled, "infectious", "hazardous", or, "live". Airborne Express dominates the deliveries and pick-ups we make for other courier services. Most of our larger packages are carried for Airborne Express, as they ship for companies such as Dell, Compaq, Sears, and Apple. Deliveries we make for Airborne Express, California Overnight, Golden State Overnight, Emery World Wide, Adcom Express, CFC Network, TNT Express, and others take the form of both envelopes and packages.

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