The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-04-23
Delayed Letters.

''ln view of the fact that over 30, =
600, 900 parcels of mail matter are. tmnu-
ally delivered from this office. and
1sGr 900, 900, 600 annually sent from it.
is it stranga." said Postmaster T"bry
to Globe reporter, yeStErHaY; that
| errors occasionally occur9
There is one thing" continued the
Postmaster, THAT we constantly I'M
press on the minds of our employees,
and that is that they must at all times
be courteous and polite, however irri
tating the pu lie may be. when sup
posing the management of the Office nj
fault. IT would be iii act of simple
Justice on the part of any one who may
have cause for complaint, real or mag
mary, To make it known to the Post
master direct, thereby giving him the
opportunity to investigate the matter.
and apply II remedy, if any is needed,
instead of complaining to the public.
and creating Il very erroneous impress
sion Us to the efficiency of the service
generally.
The statement that letters are Oft
en- delayed at this office is an erroneous
one. 1t will be seen at glance that
the original fault is with the senders in
not preparing at least one rate of post
age. Ii one full rate is paid, namely,
cents, no matter how much more
postage may be required, the letter
will be delivered at once, and the de-
ticient amount collected on delivery.
If to be delivered in the city the car
rier must pay the postage before tax
ing it from the office and collect it from
the addressee on delivery. This, as
you will see, occasions no delay"
GLOW if the letter is addressed to
box?"
a''In that case notice is at once
placed in the box requesting the ad-
dressee to call at section three in the
post-office, pay the extra postage and
receive the letter. Neither is any de-
lay occasioned by this 1t is not a red
tape regulation of the Boston post
office, but postal law, requiring full
payment of postage to be made on all
mail matter before delivery. These
letters have referred to are known in
the department as 'short-paid letters
The letters upon which full rate has
not been paid are designated as 'held-
fOr-postage letters and cannot be de-
liyered by law until the full postage is
paid by either the writer or the ad-
on the envelope the letter is ut once re-
| turned for the necessary postage, but
if the envelope does not bear the adj
dress of the writer a notice is at once
sent to the addressee.
The latter system is certainly 4
vast Improvement over the former law
requiring held-for-postage letters not
bearing the address of the writer to be
sent to the Dead Letter Office, from
| which the addresses were notified that.
upon receipt of the necessary postage,
! their letters would be forwarded to
/ them. This. of course, accustomed
! much unnecessary delay. The Boston
! post Office, under its present manage
! ment, was the second office in The
country to adopt the system of card
notices | have described to you, and,
by demonstrating its advantages to the
! department, it was the means of its in
! PRODUCTION throughout the country.
If 4 letter bearing the address of
! the writer, and addressed to street
! and number in Boston, can not he de-
livered no snch party being known -
a circular is sent to the writer stating
| the reason for its non-delivery and
| asking for 4 correct address. On an
| average about twenty-five of those cir
culars are sent out every day, and in
! almost every instance they are returned
/ with the information that the letters
were intended for some other city.
| They are then forwarded as requested
Charges OF red tape in this Office
! and delay in the transmission of mail
matter are not trne, concluded Mr.
! Tobey. land in all cases where letters
are detained it will be found due to
| negligence OF the senders. - Boston
| Globe