Show CHRISTMAS RUSH holiday V mail problem easier to handle sine since e public started helping postmen I 1 by HUGH THOMASON released Hele ne leased aBed by western newspaper union ASHINGTON by this washington time your christmas card to the folks who used to live next door has been delivered ina distant community and gift pa package ck for the youngsters has arria arrived ed as usual right on schedule forty thousand postmasters are beginning to see daylight over a mound of letters parcels ire greeting eting cards and whatnot that showers down on the post office department each holiday season pretty soon it will be ov over er for or another year and the we weary a ry mailmen will start preparing for 1940 2940 this Is a lob job that requires postage stamps an eye on the weather machine machinelike like coo co o ardi r nation of railroad and postal fa facilities oodles of patience with the we well meaning but lax public and around tor for extra clerk hire beware of fads it means watching out tor for po population up trends economic conditions and those unpredictable mailing lads fads that grip the public fancy each holiday season one year th ey pour oceans of christmas cards on to blittle little village of called bethlehem md the next year on santa claus ind next on christmas fla and probably probable the following year at noel va why just to have their cards cancelled with a christmas y postmark which most of the recipients wont even notice but its fine old american tradition and the post office department must operate cooperate co Holiday postal rushes arent what they used to be but that mean the volume of mail is de ing on the contrary its on the upgrade but the public has memorized those ott oft repeated shop early mail early slogans and taking more pity on the hapless mailman theres still a disheartening deluge of mail each season to that graveyard of good intentions the dead letter office where go oil all letters and parcels suffering from illegible incorrect addresses and hopelessly poor wrappings from which the address has become lost altogether an old hand band in the postal service 7 77 T M L f 7 N ax 1 c 1 1 4 aw V 1116 V 11 1 4 Z ae 7 6 2 ft 4 V N N 4 K e 0 A flood of christmas mail descends on one of 0 americas metropolitan post offices bound for cities and hamlets hamlet hundreds of miles away can decipher handwriting as illegible as an egyptian cryptograph but christmas is just when the mail clerks dont have time to do it such detective jobs must then fall partly on the shoulders of inexperienced substitute postmen which only em pha sizes the need for legible addresses to outfox the dead letter office mapy many post offices have a hospital to doctor decrepit packages in larger cities a half dozen men are assigned to this job during the holidays armed with patches glue and cord but sometimes the job Is beyond them spelling grief tor for both giver and intended recipient mall hall volume anticipated christmas preparations in the post s office depart department merit begin in mid sum mer when individual postmasters postmaster send in their requisitions tot for stamp they dont guess at it instead they turn to reliable local sources like the chamber of commerce board of trade and other commercial groups which can make a pretty good guess about local business conditions five or six months hence about the same time the bureau of engraving and printing begins turning out extra stocks of stamps for christmas this office wait for the postmasters to make their check stamps must be printed immediately torvold to avoid avold a logjam log jam later in the season transportation equipment Is the next problem when the post office department knows how much business is expected railroads are notified to have the proper number of mall mail service cars in readiness when the rush starts at local post post offices special vehicles must be cloned for parcel delivery |