LARGE VOLUME OF MAIL

Southland Times, Issue 24005, 21 December 1939, Page 6

LARGE VOLUME OF MAIL

Scene Of Activity At Post Office BIGGER STAFF WORKS LONG HOURS After a year of steady and efficient routine, the mail-room staff at, the Invercargill Post Office now finds itself in that annual orderly maelstrom which signifies the early approach of Christmas. An augmented staff, working long hours, will this year handle an almost record mail if the rate of postings of the last few days is maintained. Not only is the staff affected by heavy postings in Invercargill, however, for very large inward mails are being received several times a day and these must be sorted for distribution. The mail-room staff has been considerably augmented from various other branches, including the engineers and the clerical branches. The incoming mails are becoming increasingly heavy and members of the staff are working 12 hours a day to cope with the volume of letters and parcels. There are big numbers of parcels and packages this year. Christmas cards are present in every new mail in very large quantities. The opinion was expressed by an officer of the department yesterday that greater use was being made of Christmas cards this year than before. The postmen, too, are having a particularly strenuous time and are working very long hours. Twenty-two postmen are engaged in delivering mail ana all but two have assistants. The usual number of postmen is 17. There are also twice as many sorters employed during the busy period. One of the principal difficulties being met is in-completely-addressed correspondence. The redirection of mail and the finding of correct addresses occupy a good deal of time. Many residents are absent on holidays and the redirection of mail naturally makes much additional work. '