Oliver: Please sir, may I have some more?

This is my Oliver Model 3. The type bars need some work at the moment and one key needs to be replaced but the rest of the mechanism is working well. WD40 works wonders on rust frozen parts as long as you go back and oil them properly afterwards, it is no replacement for oil as it will soon evaporate away.

I think the Oliver may have suffered from an impact on the top in shipping. I'll have to remove the type bar supports and look at the best way of truing everything up.

We'll see how this all pans out.

Oliver Model 3 arrives

Finally I have possession of a Oliver Model 3 typewriter.

It was sent on Dec 27th and arrived on Jan 12th for a total of 16 days in transit. Just as well I didn't need it in a hurry! I've had packages travel from Victoria, Australia to Texas, USA in 10 days ....

There are a few mechanical issues that need to be taken care of, mainly type bars that are binding with each other.

The photograph shows an Oliver Model 3. Its not my actual Model 3, mine is in a bit worse shape at the moment.

Hopefully I'll be able to sell a few of my other typewriters and purchase a fully restored Model 9 in the near future.

Take a look at The Oliver Typewriter Shop for examples of superbly restored machines.

Why I don't have my Oliver Model 3 yet.

The Slow Death of the U.S. Postal Service

by James Bovard

James Bovard, an associate policy analyst of the Cato Insti- tute, has written widely on the U.S. Postal Service for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

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Executive Summary

Mail service in the United States is getting slower, more expensive, and less reliable. First-class mail moves 15 percent slower than it did in 1969. The cost of first-class postage is rising twice as fast as inflation. According to the U.S. Postal Service's own figures, postal worker productivity has declined during the 1980s.

The Postal Service is misleading the American public on the quality of mail service it provides. Post office hours have been slashed, mail has been intentionally slowed down, and millions of Americans have been denied home mail delivery. In some cities, post offices are opening an hour later in the morning and the last mail pickup of the day is now at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The Postal Service would like to do even more: In 1986, for example, Postmaster General Albert Casey advocated abolishing Monday mail deliveries and abolishing standards for two-day delivery of first-class mail.

Click here for the full story.

Guess what, its an old freezer!

Hey look, an old upright freezer. I'm just trying the Picasa 'post directly to blogger' feature. Not that this is without reason .... anyone want to buy a upright freezer?

Playing with Blogger and Picasa on the web.

Yes, I'm trying out all the new functions of this blog. I mean, wouldn't you?

Actually Google has a pretty good thing going with their whole suite of internet applications, the single sign-on feature is nice ... slightly scary from a security point of view, but very convenient.

I'm only here because Google makes it so easy.

Well, I have no idea if this is a good idea but I'm willing to give it a go.

As you can tell from the title of this blog I have a thing for old and antiquated technology. Sadly I'm still waiting on my Oliver Model 3 typewriter to be delivered by USPS, so I'm purging my buffers here in the meantime.

USPS has been very slow according to the various postings I have seen scattered around the web, 14 days to move one item 25 miles .... 7 months to mail a book across the US.