When responding to requests by mail for publications or routine information, attach the requesting letter to the material sent. By returning the letter, you will not have to file it. Devise form letters as responses to frequently asked questions. Indicate on the incoming letter the date and the number of the form sent in response. This is a particularly effective way in dealing with routine interdepartmental memoranda if you do not feel a need to keep a copy.
Some governments even use the endorsement method in handling correspondence from the public.
Again, by returning the incoming material, you will not have to file it. Be aware of the applicable retention period of various classes of correspondence and file them accordingly. Retention periods may vary from one year for Transitory Correspondence, a records series that was added to page 86 of the University Records Retention and Disposition Schedule as a part of the April 1994 update, to permanent for correspondence contained in the Historical Policies Records Series, found on page 75. Filing transitory correspondence along with permanent correspondence that pertains to office policy will result in bulging files that will have to be weeded before they are transmitted to permanent, archival storage. Non-Record Materials Oregon statutes recognize a category of documentation which does not fall under the retention and disposition requirements of ORS 192.005.