‘MORE XMAS CARDS THAN EVER’: POST OFFICE TRAFFIC

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22826, 22 December 1948, Page 6

‘MORE XMAS CARDS THAN EVER’: POST OFFICE TRAFFIC

“More Christmas greeting cards are being exchanged than ever before. Not only are people exchanging them with friends in other towns, but many Gisborne residents are posting them to friends in Gisborne.”

This was the summing-up of a postal official at the Chief Post Office yesterday morning. He, together with other mail-room employees, worked 17 hours on Saturday and again on Monday; they expect to work at least that number of hours each day for the rest of this week.

Postmen also have an unenviable job at this time of the year. This week they commence at 5 a.m. each day and work through until 7or 8 p.m. The whole of the morning is spent sorting the mail, after which they commence their rounds. 1

Substantial extra help is provided for them and for the mail-room staff, but still it takes long hours to cope with the huge Christmas crop of letters. A very large percentage of the letters handled are made up of Christmas cards and the official’s statement is borne out by stationers, who report a phenomenal demand on cards. Several trucks are being used to. take overflow bags of mail and leave them at predetermined spots in readiness for the postmen to pick them up. They cannot hope to carry on their bicycles all the mail which Christmas brings.

Over 100 bags of parcel mail are being brought into Gisborne each morning by train at present. These are all being sorted and delivered from an extra depot set up in Lowe street. Several men are kept busy throughout the day clearing the mail which arrives on the morning goods train from the south. Every parcel is expected to be delivered by 5 p.m. each day.

The majority of parcels received by post in Gisborne this Christmas have been well-packed and few have suffered any damage. The posting of parcels over the mail counter at the Chief Post Office was also particularly heavy on Monday and four counter clerks were kept busy throughout the day.

The other department in the post office which has a particularly busy Christmas is the telegraph branch. On Monday about twice the usual number of telegrams were handled through thg Gisborne Post Office, but during the next few days this number is ex* pected to be many times increased.