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Show Moab Post Office Strives for Perfection In Handling 5,000 Pieces of Mail a Day By Linda Garrison "Why don't you write me, I am out in the jungle, I'm hungry to hear you,". ...Simon & Garfunkle.... "Things would be better if only a letter would come," Harry Nilsson..... "Mr. Postman look and see, if there's a letter a letter for me." Beatles "Still no letters been delivered. ..she stops a postman passing by,"....Joni Mitchell.... "P.S. I Love You, "....Beatles. The postal service is probably probab-ly one of the most alluring and cherished services in a person's per-son's life. Everyone likes to get mail and in the United States an estimated 90 billion pieces of mail are processed a year. This averages out to 450 pieces of mail for every man, woman and child a year. This is two-thirds of all the mail in the world. There are close to 34,000 post offices and branches in the U.S. with some 700,000 employees working to get the mail delivered. The United States Postal Service was created from the Post Office Department in 1970. It is now under the guidance of a board of governors instead of the I ... -', . yt- , A 1965 Cessna T206 crashed at the La Sal air strip at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. The plane was totaled but there were no injuries. Piloting the plane was James Charles Romer, Grand Junction. He reported that he was making a pass over the land strip and the engine failed. He went to set down and the nose wheel hit a small juniper tree and the plane flipped over on Its back. With Romer was William Lawley, Fruita. The FAA was notified and will investigate. Congress and this board appoints the Post Master General which is no longer a Cabinet position. The flow of mail in Moab is estimated by Post Master, Howard Knight, as being 5,000 pieces a day. There are close to 1200 post office boxes available in Moab and there is a possible delivery of 1500 locations taken care of by house delivery. The Moab office employees one Post Master, one supervisor, super-visor, two carriers, and four clerks. They are hired through the Civil Service register under an especially set up division for the Post Office. Mr. Knight reported that the biggest complaint they receive deals with getting the wrong mail in the wrong box or delivering it to the wrong house. "Our office has a 99 percent accuracy record," Mr. Knight said, "but we are striving for 100 percent." He feels that this is not the fault of the postal system but is just normal human error which Cont. on A3 . ; I : : J , . - .y,y, 'p yij ? y, -y fir'ly Friendly efficient service is given by Annie Roberts in an often a) tne counter busy office. The post office estimates service to 500 people a day f " Oil : :k Robson slows his speed to talk to the Times about his Job at ' post office. Rick works a split shift sorting the letters Into the in ;.ea and zip code slots, an important step In the postal system. De I tost Office Strives for r ferfection Daily (Cont. from Al t iVairs when people take part ft j,i production system. Zip Code Mr. Knight stressed the ie ;w's0ute necessity for people tB uusezip codes, "Since much ;e- A i the mail is machine be I accessed, the use of zip codes l9 'k-omes mandatory," he said. ? Men there is no zip code or rd fewrong one is used the mail ie i delayed because it has to be n, vjnd processed. Mr. Knight p jiso pointed out that the post 5e , office has available packets for es I inge of address which helps tfed the mail along. The post office also sales books on the collecting of samps and they have some y, vearly kits available for stamp , Electors. These include the ,.e ammemorative stamps of the 18 I iisignated year. 1 Commemorative stamps deal H-ith historical events and : personalities of national im- penance. Some examples of ijese stamps would be the Olympics, Wildlife and Bicen- snial stamps, Emily Dickin-4 Dickin-4 sra. Robert Frost, Frank Lloyd T Wright, George Gershwin, T President Kennedy and many others. It is interesting to note A that for a person's picture to T appear on a stamp that persom y must be deceased. A These commemorative stamps offer an interesting and often profitable hobby for A stamp collectors and also A because the stamps collected Y do not pass through the mail 7 svice there is a small profit A to the postal service. " A Outgoing Mail J The normal procedure for y outgoing mail begins when the sender drops a letter into a . postal box or inside the mail f tap at the post office. The last f pick up for each day is 4:30 A Pn. from the town boxes and r 5:30 in the post office. When it arrives at the post office, an employee will straighten the mail and face it all in the same direction. It is then sent through a canceling machine which postmarks the letter and cancels the stamp. It is interesting to note that when a letter arrives to you and the stamp has not been canceled, it is illegal to use that stamp again. Mr. Knight suggested throwing it away although there is no way for the post office to know that the stamp has been put to use. The letters are then filed into slots of designated states and area cities by zip code. The letters in each slot are then put in the designated pouch for the area of designation designa-tion and the pouch is then locked and put on the truck. All Utah mail except Salt Lake City is reworked at the Provo office. Salt Lake mail and all other states mail goes to the Salt Lake Post Office except for a few close areas in Colorado. The same procedure is taken with all parcels. There is one pouch of mail that goes directly to the airport for those items under designation as special delivery, next day delivery, or other priority designations. Incoming Mail The mail for Moab residents is delivered by Wycoff in the morning at 6:30. When it first arrives it is put through a primary sort where it is separated by post office numbers by the 100, specific business, or street address. From here the mail goes to the boxes or to the home delivery system. Other services offered at the post office are money orders and a small supply of envelopes and boxes for use in mailing. |
