IN FULL FLOOD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 303, 22 December 1943, Page 6

IN FULL FLOOD

CHRISTMAS MAILS WORK AT HIGH PRESSURE If you think that your Christmas card or parcel has taken a day or two to be delivered, don't worrj-. It may be one of the 594,330 letters and packages that passed through the Auckland ChieT Post Office last week, or it may be in the contents of the 6557 receptacles (bags or hampers) that were handled by the parcels office, Albert Street from Wednesday till last night. How is it done? As any gigantic task can only be done, by skilful organisation and steady working for long hours. The Chief Post Office mail room and the Albert Street office these days and nights can truthfully be termed hives of industry. Staffs have to be reinforced frdVn every available quarter, and with as strong an element of experience as is possible. Men work from 7 a.m. till 9.30 p.m., and women from 8 a.m. till 9 p.m., handling the daily postings and the incoming letters and parcels from all parts of the Dominion. - How a Little Care Can Help Letters dropped into the posting boxes at the Chief Post Office are conveyed instantly by automatic carriers to the mail room, where they are instantly sorted for stamping by the stamping machine, by juvenile workers. And here is where the public, by just a little care, can assist. If stamps are affixed to letters on the top right-hand corner, they can be stamped mechanically, but if in any other position require to be hand stamped. Thousands of letters that are too thick for the machine, or where the stamps are affixed in awkward positions, have to be extracted from the mail and sent to the hand stampers. On Monday last 210,630 letters were stamped by the machine, but hundreds had to be done by hand. On the corresponding day last year 191.850 were stamped, while yesterday the total was 191.685. and for the corresponding day of 1942 the tally was 164,310. These figures show an increase in this year's business, but according to the postal officials the public have posted a day or two earlier this year, which is appreciated. Parcel Postage Increases Parcel postage has risen this year in keeping with letter and packages mail, and the rush actually set in on Wednesday last. At the Albert Street parcel office a total of 6557 receptacles were packed and dispatched, which is in excess by 547 receptacles over the same number of days last Christmas. The organisation of the deliveries by the postman's branch is also a big undertaking. The days of the overburdened "postie" struggling with a- load of three or four bags of letters and parcels are past. Tl>3 men and women now acting as carriers take a normal load from the post office, and by a schedule of motor transport that is kept surprisingly up to time-table they have 'pick ups" at different places and times along each route, thereby faciliting deliveries throughout the metropolitan area. The work of the women carriers has been greatly appreciated bv the public generally, and at the present time of abnormal rush and emergency they are performing a service that is highly valued.