How to take advantage of the best bargain in the world : the USPS .
1. A BANK
W.H. Coltharp was in bursting charge of work up the Bank of Vernal , Utah , and wanted the edifice to be made of bricks from Salt Lake City . But it was 1916 . Bricks were normally shipped via commercial freight wagon , and that was expensive . So Coltharp find a way to cut costs : ship brick one by one . He ordered 15,000 bricks , individually wrap , and had them shipped by parcel post . The conniving scheme be the postal service office a fortune .
2. LIVE CATS
In 1897 , New York City installed a 27 - mile system of pneumatic tubes , connecting 23 post offices . It shoot post at 35 mile per hour , blasting anything that could fit in a shipping canister shot . Like cats . eyewitness reported one cat , once extracted , appeared shaken but unhurt . It was n’t the last meter a Caterpillar took a drive on the tube : The system was afterwards used to transmit a sick jackpot to the vet . No word if it took Dramamine before embarking .
3. THE HOPE DIAMOND
The Hope Diamond is worth more than $ 250 million . You ’d imagine anybody planning to move it would bring an armed guard of Chuck Norris clone . But when jeweler Harry Winston donated the gem to the Smithsonian in 1958 , he just post it in the post . “ It ’s the safe way to post gems , ” he say . “ I ’ve sent gems all over the world that way . ” Shipping the stone cost him only $ 2.44 ! ( He give surplus to see it . )
4. POTATOES
So long as an point is self - contained and reasonably sturdy , the USPS will embark anything package - free . Just slap on some stamps and write an address on a potato , for exemplar , and your spud is ready to go . This goes for other edibles too , like coconut and limes . If you ’re too otiose ( or mortified ) to send off a potato , the caller Mail a Spud will do it for you . Whether the recipient will be flatter by your well - traveled tater is another story .
5. HOUSES
For more than three ten , you could buy homes in the Sears , Roebuck and Co. catalog — and most pieces were save to your threshold ( if you had one ) . From 1908 to 1940 , the Modern Homes catalogue sold about 75,000 houses , with price ranging from $ 360 to $ 2,890 . The precut go timber claim to command just one carpenter . Along with a house , the outfit came with two trees to plant in your newfangled front yard .
