The J.W. Westcott II

June 30, 2001 11:38 AM

The J.W. Westcott II delivers toilet paper, the occasional pizza, and, most importantly, mail to freighters making their way through the Great Lakes. And now it's the only boat in the U.S. to be assigned it's own zip code.
posted by Oriole Adams (6 comments total)

Actually, I doubt that's true. As I recall from fighting with zip code lists, Navy ships can have their own, too.
posted by NortonDC at 11:49 AM on June 30, 2001

Correction: only commercial boat to have it's own zip.
posted by tj at 12:52 PM on June 30, 2001

I want my own zip. When will the Postal Service wise up and start selling vanity zips?
posted by rodii at 2:05 PM on June 30, 2001

i want my own tug boat. it would be fun to work for this guy for a summer. Ore boats get to predictable.
posted by clavdivs at 8:46 AM on July 1, 2001

It's amazing the wack shit you find when you dig into the postal service.. I can kind of understand why some people who work there take it so seriously.. It's a huge insane system that actually pretty much works for a pretty much resonable cost..

Surface parcel mail is like a big huge unfaithful mistress.. Start trying to send 12" records internationally and you really find some illness..
posted by Leonard at 8:52 AM on July 1, 2001

There are also lots of small mail boats on recreational lakes throughout the country. There's one in Wisconsin that pretty much goes by each dock at speed, and generally hires lithe young women to jump over, stick the mail in the box, and get back onto the boat before it's gone. To the entertainment of the boat's tourist passengers, especially when she doesn't make it ...

(Really, it's good clean cheesehead fun.)
posted by dhartung at 6:10 PM on July 1, 2001