Friday, July 18, 2008
Libertyville, Ill. Considers Outdoor Vending Machine Rules In Response To Machine Proliferation
Libertyville, Ill. is considering restricting outdoor vending machines for aesthetic reasons as the machines proliferate, according to The Libertyville Review in Libertyville, Ill. in the past outdoor vending machines used to be primarily pop machines, but now the village is seeing many different types of machines, including snack machines, video rental machines, bait machines and propane gas rentals.
Post offices to remove stamp vending machines
Get ready to either stand in line or go online the next time you need to buy a book of stamps. The U.S. Postal Service is removing postage vending machines from all of its locations nationwide.
The machines at post offices in the immediate Harrisburg area are to be removed by the end of the month. The machine at the branch on Market Street in Harrisburg is to be removed Tuesday.
At the rest of the post offices in the Central Pennsylvania district, the machines are to be removed by Sept. 30. The stamp vending machines are the victims of technology, competition and aging parts, said Ray Daiutolo, Postal Service spokesman for the central Pennsylvania region. The service can no longer find parts for its 15,000 vending machines, he said. But perhaps the biggest reason they are going the way of the pay phone is that people no longer use them. Consumers are buying postage on the Postal Service's Web site, and through its "stamps by phone" and "stamps by fax" services. People also can find stamps at most grocery stores, and some banks offer them at their ATMs. "The cost is simply debited from their account with no fees from us," said Jason Kirsch, spokesman for the Swatara Twp.-Commerce Bank/Harrisburg. "With the ability to purchase stamps at our ATMs, that's one less errand to run." Giant Food Stores has been selling stamps at its stores for the last 10 years. It used to sell them at the customer service desks, but because of customer demand have since made the stamps available at all of its checkout aisles, said Dennis Hopkins, a spokesman for Carlisle-based Giant. The grocery store chain does not plan to stock up on more stamps because the Postal Service is doing away with its vending machines, but will keep an eye on how many it's selling, Hopkins said.
The machines at post offices in the immediate Harrisburg area are to be removed by the end of the month. The machine at the branch on Market Street in Harrisburg is to be removed Tuesday.
At the rest of the post offices in the Central Pennsylvania district, the machines are to be removed by Sept. 30. The stamp vending machines are the victims of technology, competition and aging parts, said Ray Daiutolo, Postal Service spokesman for the central Pennsylvania region. The service can no longer find parts for its 15,000 vending machines, he said. But perhaps the biggest reason they are going the way of the pay phone is that people no longer use them. Consumers are buying postage on the Postal Service's Web site, and through its "stamps by phone" and "stamps by fax" services. People also can find stamps at most grocery stores, and some banks offer them at their ATMs. "The cost is simply debited from their account with no fees from us," said Jason Kirsch, spokesman for the Swatara Twp.-Commerce Bank/Harrisburg. "With the ability to purchase stamps at our ATMs, that's one less errand to run." Giant Food Stores has been selling stamps at its stores for the last 10 years. It used to sell them at the customer service desks, but because of customer demand have since made the stamps available at all of its checkout aisles, said Dennis Hopkins, a spokesman for Carlisle-based Giant. The grocery store chain does not plan to stock up on more stamps because the Postal Service is doing away with its vending machines, but will keep an eye on how many it's selling, Hopkins said.
Milestone for tunnel linking LIRR, Grand Central
One hundred forty feet below Grand Central Terminal, in a muddy, slippery tunnel filled with mind-boggling machinery, a recommendation graffitied onto the wall advises: "Watch your butt."
Truth be told, it includes a word slightly more colorful than "butt," but it's sage advice nonetheless to those who work or even visit that dark and dank place, which will connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central by 2015.
The $7.2 billion project recently reached a milestone when one of two 600-ton-plus tunnel boring machines reached a spot about 150 feet below Park Avenue and 48th Street. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will soon begin blasting out space there for a massive LIRR concourse under Grand Central.
During a tour for the media Thursday, project engineers handed out hard hats and orange vests for the trek down 16 flights of stairs that began around the corner from a vacant lot at East 63rd Street and Second Avenue. That's where the first machine began its journey in October.At the bottom of those stairs, a doorway leads to the 22-foot-diameter tunnel. Workers in heavy rubber boots step through puddles and muck, around tracks laid for a small construction train that carries them to and from the $10 million, Italian-made boring machine.
On this train, there are no padded seats, automated announcements or conductors. Instead, workers scoot onto long metal benches after hoisting themselves up in the dark. Long, piercing blasts warn workers of its slow approach. They, in turn, wave flashlights to signal where they are.
At the end of the tunnel, they step on a 360-foot-long machine that edges forward like an inchworm, using 45 steel blades to cut through an average of 50 feet of granite each day.
A second, similar machine is expected to catch up in about a month.
The new tunnels connect to two tunnels below the East River used by the F train that will link to the LIRR in Queens. A 4-mile-long conveyor belt carries muck from the tunnel out to Long Island City, where it is carted off to landfills or used in roads, said Joe Trainor, the chief engineer for MTA Capital Construction.
Working in the tunnel is not for the faint of heart, he said, but for those who relish venturing into parts of the city few ever see and completing jobs that will change thousands of commuters' lives, there's nothing else like it.
"This is what we love, and to think we can do it right here in Manhattan is wonderful," Trainor said. "We like to think of it as a challenge. It's exciting to be able to do this work right in your hometown."
Once the project is completed, the LIRR is expected to run up to 24 trains in and out of Grand Central during peak hours.
Truth be told, it includes a word slightly more colorful than "butt," but it's sage advice nonetheless to those who work or even visit that dark and dank place, which will connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central by 2015.
The $7.2 billion project recently reached a milestone when one of two 600-ton-plus tunnel boring machines reached a spot about 150 feet below Park Avenue and 48th Street. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will soon begin blasting out space there for a massive LIRR concourse under Grand Central.
During a tour for the media Thursday, project engineers handed out hard hats and orange vests for the trek down 16 flights of stairs that began around the corner from a vacant lot at East 63rd Street and Second Avenue. That's where the first machine began its journey in October.At the bottom of those stairs, a doorway leads to the 22-foot-diameter tunnel. Workers in heavy rubber boots step through puddles and muck, around tracks laid for a small construction train that carries them to and from the $10 million, Italian-made boring machine.
On this train, there are no padded seats, automated announcements or conductors. Instead, workers scoot onto long metal benches after hoisting themselves up in the dark. Long, piercing blasts warn workers of its slow approach. They, in turn, wave flashlights to signal where they are.
At the end of the tunnel, they step on a 360-foot-long machine that edges forward like an inchworm, using 45 steel blades to cut through an average of 50 feet of granite each day.
A second, similar machine is expected to catch up in about a month.
The new tunnels connect to two tunnels below the East River used by the F train that will link to the LIRR in Queens. A 4-mile-long conveyor belt carries muck from the tunnel out to Long Island City, where it is carted off to landfills or used in roads, said Joe Trainor, the chief engineer for MTA Capital Construction.
Working in the tunnel is not for the faint of heart, he said, but for those who relish venturing into parts of the city few ever see and completing jobs that will change thousands of commuters' lives, there's nothing else like it.
"This is what we love, and to think we can do it right here in Manhattan is wonderful," Trainor said. "We like to think of it as a challenge. It's exciting to be able to do this work right in your hometown."
Once the project is completed, the LIRR is expected to run up to 24 trains in and out of Grand Central during peak hours.
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