From its founding in 1929, Railway Express Agency dominated the
transportation industry until the 1960s. In return for a monopoly
on passenger train service, the express company was obligated to
accept any and all shipments within the United States. REA handled
carloads of cattle, race horses, and fruits and vegetables.
Radioactive material was moved on regular schedules for the Atomic
Energy Commission. When companies or individuals wanted to ship
something (even ten turtles) to any place in the world (even
Tucumcari, New Mexico), they called REA. The history of REA
coincides with the career of Klink Garrett, who began as a
temporary employee in Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1934 and stayed
with REA until 1973, by which time he was a senior executive and
member of the company's board of directors.
Garrett spent the first half of his tenure working in small
offices, usually one-man operations, in the West. In 1956 he was
promoted to a national sales position with offices in both New York
City and Washington, D.C. His main job was to coordinate the
transportation needs of the Defense Department and the emerging
nuclear industry via REA. His entrepreneurial ethic--a combination
of extraordinary customer service and good old-fashioned
ingenuity--gave him lots of good stories to tell, many of which are
related here. His last fifteen years at REA were the years of the
company's decline and the decline of the nation's railroads; by
1976 the company was bankrupt and out of business.
General
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