General Mail Deliver in Traveller

[mactavish]

Just out of curiosity, how to you handle ships that choose to deliver mail in your games?

Are the [potential] 5 tons of actually physical letters and packages (ala USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.), 5 tons worth of electronic mail servers that are loaded with emails that are then uploaded upon arrival in the designated system, some combination of both, or something completely different?

I have players asking about including a mail route for their ship to earn some extra credits and am soliciting input from the groupmind here.

Thanks.

mactavish out.

 

[aramis]

IMTU, mail is a combination of physical mail (letters, packages), private and local organizational electronic mail data bricks (of various descriptions), IISS data-bricks, local world diplomatic pouches, Noble diplomatic pouches, and high priority small package cargo (for various 3I, SS, and occasionally worlds).

 

[kilemall]

The CT paid fee is Cr5000 per dton (and I usually say per parsec).

So to derive shipping cost, extrapolate that down.

A large 1 cubic meter package is 1/14 of a dton, or Cr357 per parsec.

You can fit 100 1 cubic decimeter packages in a cubic meter, so 357/100 is Cr3.57 per parsec.

A letter would be even less, maybe Cr1-2.

Figure per parsec and then pickup/dropoff charges at the planet, call it another per parsec each, and sending small packages could be as cheap as modern-day package delivery.

So we can see a lot of that mail volume will be small high-value items, both commercial and personal.

If you factor in using Cr1000 rates for item delivery, could be QUITE cheap to send small consumer items over several parsecs.

There would be a business in LTDL (less then dton load) aggregators that could put together package/letter sends even more cheaply, but with greater risks of pilfering or tampering/reading then if using higher-end mail/express services.

As for data/smail (space mail, or maybe xmail?), I would tend to go with a cheap Cr1 per parsec, with additional charges for secure delivery, encryption, and proof of receipt. Entire databases in physical form would go as per a package, and some multiple of the base rate for xboat/transmission style sends.

 

[mactavish]

Okay, it seems like others are thinking along the same lines as me.

I was designating one ton of cargo space (i.e. two squares) as a permanently-installed secure server for electronic correspondence and then the remaining four tons (i.e. eight squares) for physical mail: letters, packages, etc.

I really like how you broke it down cost-wise, though I think folks sending stuff would be charged more than the base cost... maybe +5-10% or something. Otherwise, how does the mail service make any money if they're paying out to mail carriers all of the credits they take in?

I like the idea of having a secure server for post permanently installed, too, as it is ripe for adventure ideas: the PCs need to find and decrypt a terrorist message; the PCs have to fight of boarding mercenaries seeking a piece of mail (electronic or otherwise); the PCs receive a tip that one of their packages contains an explosive that doesn't show up on lower-TL scanners and they need to figure where it is a.) without violating the security of all the other mail, and b.) before it blows up (whether on-ship or post-delivery); and so on.

I am also planning on having postal inspectors harass the PCs every now and again. Maybe they're doing something that violates the contract (intentionally or unwittingly), or maybe one of the inspectors knows one of the PCs and is a Rival or an Enemy.

Finally, I'm considering having patrol ships stop them and demand to check through the mail (which, by contract, they're not supposed to allow).

I love the idea of having the PCs deliver mail in addition to all their other adventures and responsibilities.

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

mactavish out.

 

[Selandia]

Although you say CT, just for reference, T5 goes:

Mail. A lot of communications information being shipped
under special contract for a postal or express service. Governments
operate postal services; private companies operate
express services.
Mail is always of incidental size (never major or minor
sized lots). To be allowed to carry mail, the ship must be
armed and the crew must include a gunner. Each mail lot always
consists of at least one ton. Each ton of mail is shipped
at a premium rate of Cr15,000.

note that the mail vault cost 1 MCr per ton and that T5 have a route bidding process that alter the "basic" value

Have fun

Selandia

 

[whartung]

Does the Imperium control mail delivery, or is it managed solely through 3rd parties?

Specifically, does the Imperium fund and facilitate mail to Random Backwater, or is it up to the sender/receiver to manage delivery?

 

[Condottiere]

Information is virtual, unless they're sending secured USB drives.

Besides, how else is all that stuff that you ordered from your Sears catalogue supposed to be delivered?

 

[boomslang]

Does the Imperium control mail delivery, or is it managed solely through 3rd parties?

Specifically, does the Imperium fund and facilitate mail to Random Backwater, or is it up to the sender/receiver to manage delivery?

There is an old Library Data entry on Postal Unions that suggests Mail is a locally-organized, bottom-up system, as opposed to a centrally-controlled, top-down one like the Xboat network.

So I figure it is up to the backwater's government to raise some tax revenues or float a bond issue or whatever to buy some old secondhand Type S and commission and/or subsidize it to fetch the Mail from some nearby non-backwater world once a month, or else the planet is simply out of the loop and/or dependent upon the random and intermittent whims of the IISS. (Which is not an uncommon situation, of course.)

 

[Spinward Scout]

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

Neither snow nor meteor shower nor solar flare nor dark of eclipse stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed jumps.

 

[Lycanorukke]

So I figure it is up to the backwater's government to raise some tax revenues or float a bond issue or whatever to buy some old secondhand Type S and commission and/or subsidize it to fetch the Mail from some nearby non-backwater world once a month, or else the planet is simply out of the loop and/or dependent upon the random and intermittent whims of the IISS.

Which is why you have Subbie Merchant ships. They are obliged to go to worlds that a normal ship (note: PC's are not normal) wouldn't touch with a 10 parsec barge pole to deliver mail and freight. And they have a set schedule so you would know roughly when the ship is due to arrive.

If the ship is sponsored by the Imperium (an 'outreach program' or such), then the Impie's have control of offworld transport and information, it keeps the planet happy with shiney imports, and the local govt doesn't have to pay a penny (which makes them happy). The few million credits cost to keep it running is pocket lint to the subsector government/SPA and much cheaper than a world going 'feral'. I vaguely remember a mention of Strephon setting up the Subsidized Merchant program in the Marches for this.

Of course once the mail is planetside - it's the local governments problem.

 

[flykiller]

Neither snow nor meteor shower nor solar flare nor dark of eclipse stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed jumps.

might be catchy, with a little work.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Neither snow nor meteor shower nor solar flare nor dark of eclipse stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed jumps.

... now make it rhyme.

 

[kilemall]

I really like how you broke it down cost-wise, though I think folks sending stuff would be charged more than the base cost... maybe +5-10% or something. Otherwise, how does the mail service make any money if they're paying out to mail carriers all of the credits they take in?

Well, what I was saying is basically per parsec plus two.

So if you have a package that is a Cr100 per parsec cost, it's Cr100 for one parsec plus planetary handling for Cr100 each end for Cr300 total. 2 parsecs would be Cr400, 3 parsecs Cr500, etc.

I figure the profit is built in to those two planetary fees, and of course hauling mail is very profitable for the ship.

Or you could say it's a government function that expands to use up the money and it's truly a cost-only service.

 

[Straybow]

If mail service of this sort is subsidized, then it would necessarily be limited to parties entitled to benefit from the subsidy.

There's no reason why commercial mail (a la UPS/FedEx) can't be sent in a normal, non-subsidized container. Which is 5 times cheaper. Which goes toward the observation that Traveller cargo rates are unsupportable, but that's another discussion.

So, if shipping mail containers on a bonded and insured carrier is one fifth the cost of sending through this subsidized mail, why does anybody use it except those who must use it? That would mean government and nobles. No mail shipment would ever be anywhere near full. It is subsidized to make sure there are always ships heading to known destinations with space available for this purpose.