Detroit's floating post office

Detroit Free Press writer Jim Schaefer and videographer Eric Seals give us an inside look at one of the city's most eccentric institutions, the J.W. Westcott II, a floating post office that delivers mail to Great Lakes maritime trade vessels. The U.S. Postal Service has provided mail services to ships passing through the Detroit River since 1874. Today, those ships receive everything from letters to packages from Amazon.com. Watch a video to see how floating mail service actually works and read a brief interview with Sam Buchanan, the captain of the mailboat on the Detroit River, on the Detroit Free Press website.
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