THE POSTAL CHANGE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17808, 5 June 1918, Page 2

THE POSTAL CHANGE.

EFFECT ON BUSINESS HOUSES. INCONVENIENCE AND RUSH WORK. •Yesterday a "Lyttelton Times" reporter made inquiries in business circles of the community regarding the cutting, down of the postal and telegraph services, which has just been announced. The matter of the curtailment has been known to be under consideration for some time, and some of the speculations as decision likely to be come to have been realised, borne of the business men who were called upon had not become cognisant of what the changes portended, and one gentleman when asked his opinion merely shook his head and said that he .had no comment to make. Great as the difference is that some of the alterations will make to some businesses, it was recognised that the pre-war standard of service could not altogether be expected to continue in these times of the lessening of manpower, but that every endeavour should be made to study the convenience that is essential to the efficient and economical trading between hrins and their clients. A gentleman filling a managerial capacity in a large business, which has many branches throughout the South Island, after conning over tho memorandum from Wellington, epitomised the effect the reduction in service would have on his house, and also on many other large establishments engaged in his line of business, an effect which, he said, must be reflected naturally in other commercial institutions. The letter-carrying curtailment he at once eliminated from discussion, as that would not affect the large concerns, which had their private boxes. The amendment in the postal services that at once drew forth an opinion was respecting the southern . express mail, where it says " and mails now closing after y a.m. will close at a time yet to be determined, but at a time not more than three hours before the departure of the train." " If reasonable time is not given to write to customers.in the south inirepl.v to letters received by the first morning delivery, it will mean the loss of a whole day in the receipt of the goods. In their communications custodiers sometimes ask many questions, as to prices, if goods can be sent on approval, quality, etc., in stock, and these -mat--1 mail should o!ose at 9.25 a.m., say, it mail should close at 9.2 a.m., say, it j would be a practical impossibility to ! reply that day. For the necessary information 'the clerical staff has to collaborate with the departmental st"ffs, as there the expert knowledge lies. So you can see the effect the scanty time likely to be given for answering correspondence will have on the country order departments, a great trading factor nowadays in all establishments such as ours. The mail order system is very much in vogue, and its success is due: to promptness in replies. All houses such as ours have branches throughout the countrv. and ouick attendance to queries and orders is necessary to keep the business wheels running smoothly. Otherwise we will be confronted with a great obstacle to trading. There is, of course, the resort to telephone communication, but that would be extremely burdensome and expensive, and telephonic business dealing has its drawbacks. Then, suppose among a dozen orders in a mail delivery we find it necessary to write in respect to onlv one—and orders large or small must he dealt with alike— that pariicubr orie may only be a trifling one, I and day-time telephoning would sweep ! nway all the profit on the transaction. The saving clause to*the, alterations is that they are being made owing to war necessities, thrust on the Department, wlrch business people naturally, in the circumstances, desire to assist in every way in its work, but we do not want the alterations to crent-e impossibilities in business. The bulk of our correspondence must have attention and renly by the first outgoing mail, otherw : «« there will bo inconvenience all round." "Rush work." he continued, "will only open the door to mistakes. I am glad that they have given us a little consideration ' in allowing _ business people till July 1 to put their houses in order, and I suppose we mustknuckle under and assist the authorities. They could sav. doubtless, that the difficulties that may arise in regard to mercantile houses are nothing compared to what has to be done by tho whole of the Postal Department in the Dominion. Therefore I make no complaint, despite tho inconvenience impending." A prominent business man confessed that he had not had time that morning to go through the details of the memorandum, but one thing that he sincerelv regretted was the proposed discontinuance of the midnight clearance of posting-boxes. He lived in the suburbs, and it was his habit after dinner to spend the remainder of the evening in replying to important correspondence that he had not been nble to give his undivided attention to in the daytime. . Another merchant who lnstantly picked on the same item emphatically exclaimed that it was " rotten and not a fair thing." The midnight clearance of posting-boxes was a very great convenience to everybody. In the case of persona] correspondence, a father or mother could send one of the children along the street at night to the pillar-box, whereas a journey, to a post office would be entirely out of the question. "Those pillar-boxes are as good as a town mail, ' he went on, and Hi passing he mentioned he thought the information given on them .is to the times of the dosing of mails might be made to stand out more clearly, so as to bo i decipherable. Ho cited instances where there had been a failure to po s t business letters before leaving

the city, and the midnight clearance i the suourb3 had been the only meat of averting a return to town; and ei abled the same celerity of contact wit a business client. Another point touched upon .wj the clause—" In the money-order an savings bank branch, the hours wi be those of commercial banks, that i< 10 a.m. to 3 p.m." Here, the lasi mentioned merchant was emphaticall of opinion, was a step in th wrong direction. . The savings bank were used by the sma Ter me and the workers generally, an anv curtailment here would not be coi ducive to the cultivation of thrift Give the man who can only save in sma amounts as much time as possible i which to do the transaction, instead < cutting it down. If he has afe pounds to put by, and has to carry ; around with him simply because th bank is not open, there is a great like lihood that the first good intention wi not have a chance to be given effe< to. " Also there is this in regard t the savings bank," the 'merchant coi tinned. " Many times after his ban is closed a business man finds that h is desirous of sending a bank drnti The commercial bank is not available but there is the money-order office a his service. But presently he will no have that to fall back upon." In the course of a short chat, th manager of a leading wholesale hous said that the proposals had come as ; surprise,. but the chief hope lay in the'" indefiniteness. The southern expres mail was of course the most import"" to business people, and if it closed, sny tit 10 4fi they would probably be able h cope with correspondence, etc., but i an earlier hour was fixed upon ther would not be much chance, if any, t get orders executed and invoices mad out. The North Island mail was als< one of primary consideration, and whe the boats were late in arrival now ther was hofc much margin of time left t work upon, with mails closing for th Mnraron at 4 p.m.. and for the Maoi at 5.15 p.rm He hoped that whitere alterations were made due regard wouh be had to,the convenience of cor"~>»r cial people, but he was rather incline* to think that the propositions of th< memorandum were in the nature of j "feeler." Telegraphic alteration! would not affect nis business in emj great measure;, , •