1 00:00:00,489 --> 00:00:05,789 Welcome back to Half as Listeresting, a brand-new subsidiary channel of WatchMojo where we just 2 00:00:05,789 --> 00:00:09,070 list things as quickly as possible and you sit there slack-jawed while we churn your 3 00:00:09,070 --> 00:00:12,420 life-force into sweet, sweet adsense money. 4 00:00:12,420 --> 00:00:16,790 Today we’re listing ZIP codes––or postal codes as they say in the old country. 5 00:00:16,790 --> 00:00:19,240 Here’s the ZIP code with the highest income per capita. 6 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:21,180 Here’s the ZIP code with the largest population. 7 00:00:21,180 --> 00:00:23,620 Here’s the ZIP code with the highest ratio of women. 8 00:00:23,620 --> 00:00:26,410 Here’s the ZIP code with the highest percentage of people who bike to work. 9 00:00:26,410 --> 00:00:28,539 Here’s the ZIP code that looks most like a boat. 10 00:00:28,539 --> 00:00:30,810 Wait, hold on—that is a boat. 11 00:00:30,810 --> 00:00:33,860 Okay, screw this list, we have kinda interesting content to explain! 12 00:00:33,860 --> 00:00:39,090 Now, in order to understand how this tiny, 45-foot boat got its very own ZIP code, we 13 00:00:39,090 --> 00:00:41,330 need to take a little trip back in time. 14 00:00:41,330 --> 00:00:44,550 You see, before the United States figured out how to make money by designing websites 15 00:00:44,550 --> 00:00:48,350 that gave people depression, we had to support ourselves by building cars out of metal from 16 00:00:48,350 --> 00:00:50,710 the ground and selling them to people for money. 17 00:00:50,710 --> 00:00:56,020 Primitive, I know, but hear me out: America’s auto industry was huge throughout the 20th 18 00:00:56,020 --> 00:01:00,900 century, and the epicenter of this manufacturing boom was here, in Detroit, Michigan. 19 00:01:00,900 --> 00:01:05,159 With so many raw materials being shipped into Detroit—and a massive flow of new cars out 20 00:01:05,159 --> 00:01:09,280 of Detroit—the Detroit River quickly became one of the most trafficked waterways in the 21 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,930 United States, next to the Mississippi River and New York City’s subway system. 22 00:01:12,930 --> 00:01:17,460 While the American auto industry has since declined, and Detroit was ravaged by a giant 23 00:01:17,460 --> 00:01:22,500 lizard named “90s-era American Foreign Trade Policy,” the Detroit river is still a crucial 24 00:01:22,500 --> 00:01:27,180 shipping route for the thousands of freighters that operate in North America’s Great Lakes. 25 00:01:27,180 --> 00:01:31,829 Now, you know the classic adage: “Where there are lots of large boats, there’s also 26 00:01:31,829 --> 00:01:33,179 sometimes a small boat.” 27 00:01:33,179 --> 00:01:38,759 It’s not a very useful adage, but it does apply here—that’s where the J.W. 28 00:01:38,759 --> 00:01:40,200 Westcott Company comes in. 29 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:45,850 Originally, this one-boat operation served as a “ship to shore” service in the late-1800s, 30 00:01:45,850 --> 00:01:47,330 before the advent of radio. 31 00:01:47,330 --> 00:01:51,469 Essentially, if a shipping company had a message they needed to deliver to their ships—like 32 00:01:51,469 --> 00:01:54,819 if there was a change in weather conditions or if their cargo full of stovepipe hats had 33 00:01:54,819 --> 00:01:56,880 suddenly gone out of style—the J.W. 34 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,270 Westcott Company would send their rowboat out to tell the ship to dump the stovepipe 35 00:02:00,270 --> 00:02:02,649 hats into the water before they embarrassed themselves. 36 00:02:02,649 --> 00:02:08,310 As the country began to industrialize, however, a new problem arose: the freighters passing 37 00:02:08,310 --> 00:02:12,110 through Detroit didn’t have time to send or receive mail. 38 00:02:12,110 --> 00:02:15,390 Ships that served the Great Lakes throughout the auto boom—and up until today—tend 39 00:02:15,390 --> 00:02:20,910 to carry highly-valuable cargo—often raw materials like coal and iron ore. 40 00:02:20,910 --> 00:02:25,420 This means that cutting down on shipping time is absolutely essential, and modern freighters 41 00:02:25,420 --> 00:02:29,260 working the Detroit river are put on tight schedules that only leave them enough time 42 00:02:29,260 --> 00:02:33,170 to load and unload their cargo—there’s no wiggle room for the mariners to pick up 43 00:02:33,170 --> 00:02:35,960 their recreational iron ore at the local post office. 44 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,740 So, in 1895, the same year that radio killed the rowboat star, the J.W. 45 00:02:40,740 --> 00:02:43,490 Westcott Company pivoted to mid-shipment mail delivery. 46 00:02:43,490 --> 00:02:48,140 Basically, if a ship on the Detroit River needs something delivered, the J.W. 47 00:02:48,140 --> 00:02:51,380 Westcott mailboat will idle up next to it, using the suction from the ship’s wake to 48 00:02:51,380 --> 00:02:55,851 stay aligned, and—while both boats are still in motion—will send up the ship’s mail 49 00:02:55,851 --> 00:03:00,170 using an ingenious invention called a “bucket attached to a string.” 50 00:03:00,170 --> 00:03:03,730 “But Sam,” you might be saying, “If you don’t talk about ZIP codes soon, I’m 51 00:03:03,730 --> 00:03:06,050 going to report this video for promoting terrorism.” 52 00:03:06,050 --> 00:03:07,050 Well, okay, fine. 53 00:03:07,050 --> 00:03:08,430 Let’s talk about ZIP codes. 54 00:03:08,430 --> 00:03:10,870 You see, while the J.W. 55 00:03:10,870 --> 00:03:14,231 Westcott Company makes a lot of their deliveries independently—things like groceries, or 56 00:03:14,231 --> 00:03:18,170 nautical charts, or mistresses—they also have a contract with the United States Postal 57 00:03:18,170 --> 00:03:23,090 Service dating back to 1948 as the proprietor of an official US mailboat. 58 00:03:23,090 --> 00:03:27,480 When ZIP codes were implemented about fifteen years later, though, this unique arrangement 59 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:28,810 presented some problems. 60 00:03:28,810 --> 00:03:33,091 Basically, in the early-60s, every address that could receive mail was assigned to a 61 00:03:33,091 --> 00:03:37,540 local ZIP code—this made it easier to automate mail sorting, since AI will never be advanced 62 00:03:37,540 --> 00:03:40,370 enough to know that you were trying to spell Schenectady, New York. 63 00:03:40,370 --> 00:03:44,040 This even applies to things like aircraft carriers—each got assigned their own ZIP 64 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,910 code, so that when the military needs to overnight a couple of nuclear warheads for Christmas, 65 00:03:47,910 --> 00:03:50,440 the mail-sorting algorithm knows where to send them. 66 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,501 The freighters on the Detroit River, however, couldn’t be assigned a ZIP code, since there 67 00:03:54,501 --> 00:03:57,120 was no post office floating in the river. 68 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,090 So, to remedy this, the USPS granted the J.W. 69 00:04:00,090 --> 00:04:06,810 Westcott mailboat the rank of post office and gave it its very own ZIP code: 48222—essentially, 70 00:04:06,810 --> 00:04:08,810 the ZIP code of the Detroit River. 71 00:04:08,810 --> 00:04:12,980 So, if you’re feeling lonely and you want to start a correspondence with a random freighter 72 00:04:12,980 --> 00:04:17,329 captain, all you need to do is address your sad little letter to the ship’s name, Marine 73 00:04:17,329 --> 00:04:19,810 Post Office, Detroit, MI 48222. 74 00:04:19,810 --> 00:04:24,680 Of course, if you want to get the attention of a freighter captain, you should probably 75 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:25,780 just send them a bunch of emails. 76 00:04:25,780 --> 00:04:29,419 But if you really want to stand out from the crowd of people trying to befriend freighter 77 00:04:29,419 --> 00:04:34,840 captains, your email address should stand out too—like what about coolguy@normalbehavior.rodeo? 78 00:04:34,840 --> 00:04:40,870 Well guess what: you could register that email 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