CHRISTMAS AT THE C.P.O.

Evening Star, Issue 18157, 23 December 1922, Page 12

CHRISTMAS AT THE C.P.O.

HOW THE MAILS ARE Of ALT WITH. SORTING AND ARRANGING LETTERS BUSY AND COMPETENT STAFF. Probably few people have a clear conception of the huge task which has to be undertaken by the staff employed at any of the chief Post Offices at Christmas time. Many again do not realise when reading their correspondence delivered at their doors in the morning that a staff of sorters has worked at express speed for many 'hours the previous night sorting, always sorting, letters into their particular “ postal group.” Christmas puts an extra strain on those Government employees, and they deserve the brief—very brief —relaxation that follows. Although the volume of postal matter dealt with at the Dunedin C.P.O. is not so heavy as at Auckland or Wellington, still its activities are sufficiently arduous to bring it under the category of .being one of the busiest houses of industry in the city.

By permission of the Chief Postmaster and his officials, a ‘ Star ’ reporter was permitted to spend an hour or two in the mail room at the most busy time. What lie saw during that time convinced him that the postal sorters and others employed in the room earn more than the wage allotted them by the Government. These sorters are regular experts; they have to be, otherwise they would not hold down their jobs. On a hot night they “ dig in ” with coats off and sleeves rolled up, literally earning a living in the sweat of their brow. For it has to be that, the inward mails from 'north and south, and east and west, have all to be sorted into the private boxes or to be concentrated in one or another postal group before the men finish for the night. Each day one, two, or three sorters are sent north by the early express as far as Studholme. Hero the northbound and south-bound express trains cross, ami these men change over and carry on the sorting of letters until the train reaches Dunedin. The number 6f sorters sent north each day depends on the size of the mail coming fonvard. Should it bo on the second express from Christchurch, the men are able to get through a much larger number of letters', as they are given over five and a half extra hours to work in owing to the fact that this express does not reach Dunedin until 9.25 p.m. The sorting work is thus Veil advanced, except when a heavy oversea mail happens to bo on the second express. On such occasions the office staff do not got through the work until a late hour, but they “ go to it with clock-like precision,” and the mail, no matter how largo it may be, is all sorted ere the citizens are astir and before the busy postmen reach the office the next morning. At this season of the year probably 40,000 letters are handled daily. “ And not ono letter in 5,000,” said the officials, “ goes astray,” This fact alone gives some idea of the accuracy of the system employed by the Postal Department. A NOTICEABLE INCREASE. la there an increase in the volume of mails handled this Christmas?” asked the reporter. ‘‘An increase?” said the official. “Why, the volume of mails both inward and outward this Christmas is more than double that handled last Christmas. In fact the mails all this week have been exceptionally heavy. Hero is a comparison : On December 21 hist year we received one English mail of about 100 bags; and on December 25 we received ono small Australian mail. This year the overseas mails started to come in on December 16. On that date wo received a small Australian mail; on Monday evening, December 18, the letter portion of the United Kingdom and American mail by the Niagara came to hand; early on Monday morning the steamer Hokndalo arrived with the oversea mail by the Moeraki; on Tuesday night wo received another Australianmail; on Wednesday evening the newspaper and periodical portion of teh Niagara’s mail came to hand ; and on Thursday evening an Australian mail ex the Paloona. Why, one of the Australian mails received this week was larger than the whole of the Australian mail handled during Christmas week last year.” This official went to a great deal of trouble to supply the reporter with the figures for the past two days, and although the roturna are by no means complete, it will bo seen that the increase in the postal business this year has been enormous. On Wednesday 800 bags and receptacles were received, which is an increase of 279 on the number received the corresponding day last year. The number of bags and receptacles despatched on Wednesday was 641, an increase of sixty-six. On Thursday 709 bags and receptacles were despatched, and 678 received. This Lb also a substantial increase on last year. The following table shows the number of bags handled) during the Christmas season last year:

There has also been, a very pronouncedi increase in the number of parcels received and despatched. The number bandied on Wednesday last was 3,500, and 4,000 on Thursday. Of those totals fully 1,600 •were received over the counter each day, whereas the usual number received over the counter daily at the Christmas season is about 800.

A large staff is also kept busy in the parcels department. The reporter was privileged to glance through this room. .At the time of the visit he stood surrounded by a perfect rampart of parcels of all shapes and sires, ranging from 3in square to about 7ft measurement. The parcels received for postage _ are classed ordinary and fragile. The ordinary parcels are sorted direct into the various bags, and those marked “ fragile ” are carefully packed in hampers and boxes. There can bo no confusion or loss of parcels, the room is divided into three “docks”— north, south, and central, and every man knows his work. The sale of stamps will also show an increase at the close of the four days ending to-day. The amount taken at the stamp counter on Wednesday last was £636 16s Bd, and it was £729 10s on Thursday. The following tattfe shows the amounts taken on the respective days last Christmas season: —■

December 21 £658 1 8 December 22 £785 0 0 December 25 £704 16 8 December 24 £644 15 8 THE WORK' DESCRIBED. A scene of great activity prevails when the lorries disgorge their loads at the rear of the C.P.O. after the arrival of the north express. The lorries carry anywhere from thirty to fifty bags. As the bags are unloaded -the officer in charge of the mail room stands by, and 1 as cadi bag is placed! in the centre of the room a man calls “ Auckland.” “Auckland, right,” answers the officer, as he cheeks the bag on his tally sheet. “ Wellington,” “ Christchurch,” Melbourne,” "Napier,” calls the man in quick succession, to each of which the officer answers and takes the tally. “Tallied,” again calls the man as the last bag is placed on the floor. “Tallied, right,” is the reply of tlio officer. _ Once Die bags have been deposited in. the mail room Wie real work begins. About 'half a doßcn men open these bags and spill Die contents on to large benches or tables. The letters are first sorted by about six men/ known as the " primary sorters ”; they sort the correspondence for the various “walks.” The private boxes are then manned'. There are approximately 726 of these boxes, and cadi sorter takes a division consisting of about 100 boxes. There is just a slight thud as the letters are flicked with great rapidity into the boxes. The box sorters continue to take the correspondence sorted by the “primary sorters” until the whole lias been “wiped up.” As each man finishes his section of boxes lie immediately commences on the newspaper portion of

the mail. The mail on Thursday night, for instance, was an ordinary one, and; thu whole was sorted and out of sight in less than two hours. Slick work, but these men know their job and go to it with a will.

The letters for delivery by carrier arc divided into two divisions—city .arid subiwbs. These are placed in baskets by tbo primary sorters and taken upstairs, where the staff of postmen sorters divide the correspondence into the various postmen’s “ walks,” as the rounds are termed. The correspondence is finally put in sequence by the postmen according to the street numbers. . It is then ready for immediate delivery. There is not a_ moment’s delay in any way once the mail Iras been checked in by the chief clerk. While the inward mails arc being dealt with several men are busy continuously sorting tire correspondence posted, say, between 5 p.iru and 7 p.m. “ The posting of letters and packets is very heavy after 5 p.m.,” said the official. “The business houses begin to pile in their correspondence between 5 p.m, and 6 p.m., end thousands of letters are dropped through the slots in that periodl” The reporter had an opportunity of witnessing this, and a basket was filled to overflowing with letters during the fifteen or twenty minutes he stood by the receiving receptacles in the mail room in company with the official. The letters simply poured through the openings like wheat through a chute on a threshing machine. The contents of the basket are emptied on a largo table, where one, two, and often three men are engaged almost continuously in sorting the letters ready for the stamping machine. One man operates this machine, and he is a regular expert j in fact, ho has the reputation of being one of the fastest men on these machines in the dominion. The huge pile of letters on the table when the reporter was present must have totalled anywhere between 25,000 and 30,000. To the onlooker it would appear that two men could never get to the end of such a mass of correspondence, but it is surprising how quickly the letters disappear under the deft handling of these men. Their fingers move like a flash,_ sorting, ever sorting. Truly a job requiring instant re-action. The number of inward letters handled by the primary and box sorters on this particular evening was approximately 17,000. This north mail included eight hags of Australian matter. “ You will notice,” said the official (drawing the reporter’s attention to the piles and piles of letters spilled from the inward bags and the maze of correspondence to be stamped and placed in the outward bags), “ that there is a very small number of Christmas cards .amongst those lots. Christmas cards have practically gone by tile' board. There is still a large number of packets going through, but the Christmsa card is apparently fast dying out. This is probably' due to the stringency of the money market, but, of course, one cannot tell for sure. We have noticed that the. practice of sending Christmas cards has been gradually on the decline, for years. “ It is not like the old days,” said another official; as his fingers deftly flicked letter after letter into its right box. “ There was plenty to keep us movingyears ago when the Christmas card was popular. I think every flapper in the town posted fully 50 cards in those days, hut the flapper of to-day appears to have no use for this form of greeting to her numerous Johnnies.' WHAT OF THE POSTMAN ?

It would hardly be fair to close this article without 'making reference to (he men who are to bo seen in every suburb day after day, 'week after week, and month after month delivering His Majesty’s mails. .Postmen take a great deal'of physical exercise, for on an average they walk from eight, to ten miles a day. •At this season of the year they carry-a'bug of mail matter, and very often two or three bags, which, at the beginning of a round, may weigh (cacti) as Hindi as 501 b or even 6011'. The load, mercifully, gets lighter as they go on. The work is hard, not only on account of the distance ami the weight that has to lie carried, but because Hie men have to get over the ground as quietly as possible. And'to llieiV credit it may be said that they are never seen loafing. Christmas puts an extra strain on them, but there are compensations perhaps. .As a

postman a man is strictly forbidden to solicit Christmas boxes, but in a season of goodwill, when tips are the rule, the public are in general not unmindful. The Dunedin postmen are a very straight-for-ward and jovial lot of fellows. They lose no time in hitting the morning and afternoon trails with their packs, and although they arc sometimes very tired after the day’s work is over they turn up the next morning as hearty as ever. Bill probably is interested in some class of sport, Harold is no doubt a good billiard player, while “ Sandy ” is all there where a game of cards is concerned.

Tire slacker and the growler has no place in the rooms where His Majesty’s mail is sorted, nor on the road where it is delivered.

Despatched. Deceived. December 21 575 601 December 22 ... 600 686 December 23 572 494 December 24 526 424 Totals ... ... 2,255 2,205