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Press, 7 January 1987, Page 3

A post office supervisor, Mr Harry Trip, holds up some of the 5000 wrongly addressed cards and parcels that are filling up the returned mailroom at the Christchurch Post Office. The branch manager of postal services, Mr Bruce White, said most of the mail was accumulated over the Christmas period “when people seem to be in a bit of a tizz and get the addresses muddled.” Mr White said the same thing happened every year, with hundreds of cards having to be disposed of after the two-month holding time.

“We sent them back to the sender if we can, and do the same for parcels — we have three people working full-time all year doing this.” He saiid the Christmas backlog should be cleared in about two weeks, and wrongly addressed parcels would be sent to the return letter office in Wellington, where they are held for six months and then disposed of by auction. Extra Post Office staff have been diverted from other areas to help send back mail and make a little space in the overflowing mailroom.