The Mail in T2K

[Sanjuro]

I must have missed this first time round:

in my timeline King William IV is on the throne.

Twilight 1837

[Rainbow Six]

I must have missed this first time round:

Twilight 1837

LOL - Twilight typo. Should be William V.

[mikeo80]

I agree with what has been said above. Both MilGov and CivGov would make mail delivery a priority. In a post TDM world, just getting a letter from Aunt Sue that she and Uncle Bill are doing ok is a wonderfull tonic to the every day struggle to grow food and stay alive.

There is another reason the mail becomes important. Both MilGov and CivGov proclaim that they are the "true" government, supporting the Constitution. So a census as decreed in Article One, Section Three becomes a focal point. Both governments need to establish legitimacy, and find oout jus how many people of what ages they have in their areas of control. This, of course, will lead to such things as organized taxes, control of the movement and type of trade occuring in their area, and other necessary duties of a government.

My $0.02

Mike

[Wolf sword]

My thought is to have one of the local merchants caravan handle the mail they swing through town every 2 or 3 weeks they know a lot of people and it is something that they can charge for also.

[Raellus]

My thought is to have one of the local merchants caravan handle the mail they swing through town every 2 or 3 weeks they know a lot of people and it is something that they can charge for also.

I agree that private merchants or civilian volunteers would handle at least some of the mail (likely on a more localized level) but security would probably be a major issue for them. They'd also need to be familiar, reliable individuals for people to trust them with their messages and/or packages. There's an accountability issue and, if civilians are taking care of the mail, the military can't really take credit for reestablishing services.

Perhaps some sort of Army payroll is also being transported along with the mail, requiring additional security precautions. I'm not sure what pay would look like c. 2000, but it's something to consider.

[Rainbow Six]

I agree that private merchants or civilian volunteers would handle at least some of the mail (likely on a more localized level) but security would probably be a major issue for them. They'd also need to be familiar, reliable individuals for people to trust them with their messages and/or packages. There's an accountability issue and, if civilians are taking care of the mail, the military can't really take credit for reestablishing services.

Perhaps some sort of Army payroll is also being transported along with the mail, requiring additional security precautions. I'm not sure what pay would look like c. 2000, but it's something to consider.

Maybe in an attempt to make themselves look more legitimate (particularly if the troops are from Milgov) and give the impression to the populace that things are getting back to normal, the Mail Delivery Unit might have one - or more - United States Postal Service employees with them Of course, said employee(s) may have their own reasons for wanting to be on the mission...

[Raellus]

Maybe in an attempt to make themselves look more legitimate (particularly if the troops are from Milgov) and give the impression to the populace that things are getting back to normal, the Mail Delivery Unit might have one - or more - United States Postal Service employees with them Of course, said employee(s) may have their own reasons for wanting to be on the mission...

I was thinking the very same thing.

[Bullet Magnet]

Article I Section Eight of the US Constitution grants Congress the power to "establish post offices and post roads."
So I agree with the assertion that anyone trying to make the claim of being the "legitimate" government of the US would make use of this to back up their claim.

It'd probably cost more than the 42 cent stamp we have now (or is it 44 cents now), but as others pointed out, TDM kind of put a lot of things to a halt at the 1997 level, when email was not as predominant, so the use of the USPS was still the first choice for many at that time. In the T2K universe, email is off the table, and phones for the most part also, so all that's left is the mail.

[stormlion1]

A goverment, Milgov or Civgov would best be served by setting up post offices in a given area that require the locals to register to make use of the postal services. This registration would have the dual purpose of creating a database of people using the service and actually be used to find persons in a displaced population but also recording people living in a area for CivGov or MilGov own use. At that point its as simple as setting up delivery between these offices and getting people to show up there to get there mail. Essentially everyone gets a post office box and the post office becomes a central point in the area.

[Rainbow Six]

A goverment, Milgov or Civgov would best be served by setting up post offices in a given area that require the locals to register to make use of the postal services.

That makes a lot of sense. After all, there's little point in carrying mail for several hundred miles over potentially hostile terrain unless you know the recipient is a) alive and b) still living in said City. So presumably there would need to be some sort of registration process.

The sender would also need to know the recipient is alive, so any lists compiled could then be posted in a central location (e.g. the town square), allowing people to know if their friends / relatives are still alive. Of course, the down side of publishing lists of survivors in that fashion would be if someone wanted to use the information in a nefarious way (New America, to compile lists of 'undesirables', the guy whose ex wife moved to the next town / State etc to get away from him, the stalker who always had a thing for that cute girl that worked as a sports reporter for the local Fox affiliate before the war, etc, etc).

[Tegyrius]

For some reason, I started thinking about this topic again today. I've been toying with the idea of a campaign where the PCs are crewmen on a gun truck convoy for quite a while now, but I couldn't come up with any kind of story hook beyond the standard "stuck behind enemy lines" trope. Then it dawned on me- make the gun trucks mail trucks and send the PCs on an long-haul interstate mail run. Now I've got a clear objective for the group.

I like this a lot. It aligns with my own preferred campaign style, which isn't as homogenous as v1's default all-Army, all-Europe assumptions.

And it's not going to be a milk run point A to point B type mission. One washed out bridge and the mission's going to be anything but routine.

Given that, the team might be better served with more engineering and maintenance support than a HMMWV pulling a tank trailer. Perhaps a HEMTT with 5-ton crane operating in the "water buffalo" role, with a bunch of 55-gallon fuel drums or a non-trailered fuel tank strapped down in the load bed

Also, depending on the local political environment, this might make for a mixed team, with a couple of civilian representatives (CivGov or local enclave) riding along to reassure any anti-MilGov communities along the route. Part of MilGov's long-term strategy should be to re-establish civilian governance as per the Constitution, so visible steps toward that goal would, ironically, establish MilGov's short-term legitimacy as much as actual mail service would.

- C.

[Raellus]

A goverment, Milgov or Civgov would best be served by setting up post offices in a given area that require the locals to register to make use of the postal services. This registration would have the dual purpose of creating a database of people using the service and actually be used to find persons in a displaced population but also recording people living in a area for CivGov or MilGov own use. At that point its as simple as setting up delivery between these offices and getting people to show up there to get there mail. Essentially everyone gets a post office box and the post office becomes a central point in the area.

Agreed.

That makes a lot of sense. After all, there's little point in carrying mail for several hundred miles over potentially hostile terrain unless you know the recipient is a) alive and b) still living in said City. So presumably there would need to be some sort of registration process.

Agreed. Perhaps this registration for mail service would be a roundabout way to conduct a semi-formal census as well.

Given that, the team might be better served with more engineering and maintenance support than a HMMWV pulling a tank trailer. Perhaps a HEMTT with 5-ton crane operating in the "water buffalo" role, with a bunch of 55-gallon fuel drums or a non-trailered fuel tank strapped down in the load bed

That is an option. A HEMTT is a big, heavy, gas-guzzling beast, though.

Also, depending on the local political environment, this might make for a mixed team, with a couple of civilian representatives (CivGov or local enclave) riding along to reassure any anti-MilGov communities along the route. Part of MilGov's long-term strategy should be to re-establish civilian governance as per the Constitution, so visible steps toward that goal would, ironically, establish MilGov's short-term legitimacy as much as actual mail service would.

Absolutely.

[Tegyrius]

That is an option. A HEMTT is a big, heavy, gas-guzzling beast, though.

Yeah, I was thinking about that after I posted. Maybe something in between a HEMTT and a HMMWV, then - even a requisitioned civilian model with some useful equipment mounted

ETA: Something like this.

- C.

[stormlion1]

Post Offices would also be seen as a stability for a population and increase confidence in it. The registry would probably be like Modern Day Phone Book White Pages with names in alphabetacial order and old address/new address's listed and would be kept behind the counter by the postal workers to be looked at by them on request. Keep the riff raff from using it for more nefarious purposes while still allowing for familys and friends to find each other. This would require a dedicated effort that could also be used for things like starting a draft or as like stated earlier a cheap census. Probably a lot more reasons as well.

[Jason Weiser]

I like this and it could also be a secondary function of the "news riders" from my media article. Say there's just not enough MDU's as Rae mentioned to handle all but the most important or high priority mail, so lower priority stuff gets handed out to "independent contractors".