Illuminated Metro Santa Emerges for the Season
One of the great things about driving around all day is finding the free things that people leave at the curb. People throw the most amazing stuff out.
For instance, our glowy Santa was found discarded- orphaned, even- head down in a dumpster, actually- but he’s been brightening our holidays here at Metro for the last three years.
Saved from the landfill and shining on as a proud yard-high beacon of redemption.
Announcing the Metro Raffle Winner!
The Question:
“What were the three telephone area codes that covered the whole lower peninsula of Michigan in the year Henry Ford died?”
The winner of the raffle, one of only 4 people offering the correct response ( 313,517, 616) was one J.W.P., who was simultaneously applying for a job as a Courier here at Metro Delivery.
The prize this month: a $50 gift card from Busch’s Grocery store! HAPPY HOLIDAYS J.W.P.!
And, coincidentally, after and independent of the fact of her winning, we hear that she’s to be offered the job here as well. It’s true that employees and relatives can’t win the raffle- but she absolutely won it fair and square, before we even interviewed her.
HOORAY for J.W.P.! Below, some of the incorrect responses that we got to the question:
810, 517, 616 -(close!)
662 -(that’s just one Area Code! And not even one of the 3 correct Area Codes!)
761 -(See comment directly above)
YES -(No!)
London -(…what?)
Metro Delivery Will Take Your Food and Toys
…and we’ll give the food to Food Gatherers and the Toys to Toys for Tots!
We donate our delivery services and do a Holiday company donation drive for both excellent organizations, and we’ll see that they get any toys or food you want to hand off to our Couriers, whenever you see them, during the holiday season!
Toys for Tots wants new, unwrapped but packaged toys-
Food gatherers offers the following List of most requested items:
• Tuna Fish or other canned fish or meat
• Beef Stew, Meat Soups
• Hearty Soups
• Canned Spaghetti or Pasta
• Chili
• Beans (kidney, pinto, green, yellow, refried or black beans)
• Baby Food or Formula
• Ensure or other nutritional supplement drinks
• Rice
• Dry Beans
• Noodles, Macaroni
• Powdered Milk
• Pancake or Baking Mixes
• Cereal/Oatmeal
• Granola Bars
• Peanut Butter
• Jelly (in plastic jars)
We also collect (unopened)
Personal Care Items:
• Diapers
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrushes
• Soap
• Shampoo
• Disposable Razors
**Food Gatherers does not accept opened containers and expired products, and asks that you avoid items in glass as they sometimes break in transit. Thank You!
Metro Looks Forward to the New International Trade Crossing
Metro Delivery attended a terrific presentation by Dr. Roy Norton, Canada’s Consul General in Detroit, regarding the new Detroit/Windsor bridge project now finally, finally moving forward.
Metro has operating authority in Ontario for deliveries to and from the U.S., and all the time we’re carrying time-critical deliveries back and forth over the 83-year-old-Ambassador Bridge, with the 8-10,000 other trucks daily, through all seventeen traffic lights to the freeway through the long-suffering downtown of Windsor. Take our word for it, we could use another bridge that connects directly to the freeway.
Click on the “NITC” link below for a printable PDF of the information sheet from the Consulate General of Canada which was distributed at the meeting; it has a lot of clear information on the new bridge.
We are really looking forward to a second bridge, as are many of our clients, waiting for supplies and parts to keep their factories and businesses productive and on line- let’s hope the new International Trade Crossing proceeds with all possible speed, despite the well-funded campaign being waged against it.
Thanks to the A2Y Chamber for this informative event! Here’s the article from Ann Arbor.com .
Chihuahua Warning Sign
Having recently added Hector the chihuahua to the Metro menagerie, we found the posting of this warning sign necessary after a couple of close calls due to Hector’s diminutive stature and our fast-footed working environment…
We offer the sign to all other 
chihuahua owners, to print & display, in hopes of reducing chihuahua risk for the general public.
Click on the image for a printable copy!
Metro Delivery Trying to Make Vehicles Talk to Each Other
The University of Michigan Transportation research institute had a big soiree this Morning to launch the largest study ever done on Smart Vehicle Technology- and Metro Delivery was there, as a volunteer participant in the study.
Metro delivery vehicles- and soon several thousand other vehicles belonging to local individuals and businesses- are being equipped with special UM-designed tracking devices that communicate with traffic signals, landmarks, and other vehicles, to gather data.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was on hand to express the Federal Government’s support for the study, which everyone hopes will result in drastically reduced accidents and enhanced fuel efficiencies.
Imagine traffic lights that turn green because you’re coming towards them, or a warning from your dashboard when collision is imminent. Imagine your car knowing when there’s been an accident 500 yards ahead on a dark wet highway, and you can immediately begin to grasp the implications for public safety. Imagine a car that can listen to the other vehicles on the road and take their advice to reroute you around traffic jams and you start to think about the tremendous savings in fuel economy. We’re proud to be a part of it!
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder stood to proclaim himself a “nerd” in support of the project and Congressman John Dingell drew a large hand of applause when he said that he looked forward to a day when not only vehicles but also people could communicate with each other.
The system was demonstrated to local members of the Media, who were given test drives in vehicles equipped with the technology.
Metro thanks our friends at UMTRI for the opportunity to be a part of this exciting study of developing vehicle-to-vehicle technology! Pictures below!
Metro Delivery’s Penguin to Race Ducks
The 2012 Ypsilanti Heritage Festival is this weekend, and Metro Delivery will be participating in the A2Y Chamber’s Corporate Duck Challenge for the first time ever. The A2Y Chamber provides a Plastic Decoy Duck to customize:
fig. 1: corporate duck
But they don’t give you a lot of design direction. After internal debate about how to decorate the duck, we had to send the following request to the A2Y Chamber for clarification:
Dear A2Y Chamber:
As we at Metro Delivery prepare to customize our Corporate Duck for the A2Y Chamber Corporate Duck Challenge at the Heritage Festival in Ypsilanti, questions have arisen about specific limitations that may be imposed on the project, hypothetically.
Is there any reason to believe the following enhancements may disqualify our duck?
1. Remote Control Engines or Propulsion Rockets
2. Trained Mice inside on a paddlewheel or rowing, galley-style
3. Proximity-Triggered machine guns and/or flamethrowers
4. The substitution of an actual duck for the plastic one provided
Although there is little likelihood that our final design will incorporate all or any of these accessories specifically, Metro Delivery’s Corporate Policy requires that we clearly define the extreme parameters of a challenge, in order to achieve best results- and to prepare defenses and contingencies, i.e. if a competing duck will be firing torpedoes, we may choose to armor our Corporate Duck’s undercarriage.
We look forward to the event on August 19th, and thank you and the A2Y Chamber for sponsoring and coordinating the Corporate Duck Challenge!
Sincerely,
Metro Delivery
…the A2Y Chamber was quick to respond that motors and explosive devices were prohibited, which was a little disappointing.
Evidently any other modifications are fair game however, so we went with our TRUE SECRET PLAN: We replaced their Duck with our trained Company Penguin, Presto. Bet they never saw that coming.
fig. 2: corporate penguin
Extensive testing of his swimming ability was performed in the Metro Delivery kitchen, and Presto performed admirably.
fig.3: corporate penguin flotation test
As a coup de grâce we gave him a package to deliver to the finish line, as incentive.
fig 4: penguin, loaded.
Come on out to Riverside Park in Ypsilanti this Sunday 8/19/2012 to cheer for Metro’s duck! er, penguin! Race starts at 3:30 PM!
Race results next week! We think Presto will do great- unless the herring are running.
Things Learned Between Stops: Mercurial Fashions & Accessories
The God of Messengers, Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) wore a snazzy hat called a PETASOS, adorned with wings, as modeled here on Presto the Metro Penguin.
Mercury also is frequently depicted as wearing winged shoes.
On the evidence, Mercury had an obsessive focus on style that required wings on everything, or he wouldn’t wear it at all.
Mercury carried a (winged) snaky scepter called a CADUCEUS, the traditional staff of Heralds & Messengers.
The impressive image of the caduceus, two snakes intertwined around a rod surmounted with wings, has been appropriated as a logo by various modern Medical Institutions, who’ve confused it with the ROD of ASCLEPIUS, which is a stick with one measly snake tied around it.
Metro Delivery respectfully calls for the restoration of the caduceus to the Couriers, who are its rightful bearers.
Video and Pics from the 2012 Ann Arbor Jaycees 4th of July Parade with METRO DELIVERY
Metro Delivery: 2012 Jaycees 4th of July Parade In Ann Arbor, MI from Metro Delivery on Vimeo.
It was 101 Degrees! We delivered 804 Beachballs! We won 3rd place in the Parade! Hooray for the Glorious 4th!
Metro Delivery’s Biggest Liftgate EVER
Metro’s New #145 has a GINORMOUS LIFTGATE!
Metro Delivery 145 from Metro Delivery on Vimeo.