Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1886-01-14
THE STAMP CLERK.
A GOVERNMENT EMPLoYE TO BE
PlTlED, NOT ENvlEp.
He Must BE Mathematician, Athlete,
Accountant, Encyclopedia and Mind.
Reader-And Needs Patience and
an Iron Constitution.
fChicago Tribunal

[Chicago Tribune.l
"The employment of the clerks In the re-
tail stamp department of the postoffice, y
said one Of them the other day, us generally
regarded as exceedingly easy, incident and
mechanical but 1t is exa city the reverse
In my opinion it is the toughest and most
intellectual job under the roof Of the gov
eminent building. The bare fact that they
wait on so many customsrs shows 1t The
work of one clerk In the money-order de-
partment Is regarded by some as the hardest
place. because he has to conduct 1000
money transactions day. B ut tho retail
stamp clerk deals in dollars, cents and
mills, has to do eli his ciphering in his head,
like the lightning calculator ON the street,
and has from 5000 to 4 600 Of them o day.
That number may seem large to you, but
we often wait on az many as dozen people
minute, and win average from ssven to
ten a minute during the seven or eight
hours that we are on duty"
MISTAKES MADE.
"What are the chances for making mis-
takesan
aThey are unrivaled. We have seven
kinds Of stamps, two kinda of postal cards
and about twenty kinds Of envelopes and
wrappers to SELL These are dispose around
the clerk not all OF them within reach, and
when he begins to serve customers he looks
like champion bell-ringer playing Fishers
Hornpipe,' with variations. The value of
each envelope and wrapper Is so many
cent, aud decimal fraction, and when
ever he sells five or seven of them
he must estimate the price within a
hundredth of a cent; and If the amount
is so many cents and q fraction he
must charge the next higher number OF
cents. This is extremely interesting. Sumo
of the envelopes are AGA cents apiece; and,
il customer wants ten of them, 1t Ia com
paratively easy to tell what to charge him,
but when he asks for 30 cents worth Of
them the clerk feels like resigning his POSI-
ton or course, when very busy, he is
liable to make a mistake ab,ut It
"Then ths sale of stamps Is very danger
GUS Some people want ten stamps and
others 10 cents worth OF stamps, and the
clerk constantly confuses these two trans
actions, and gives ten 2-cent stamps for 10
cents, Or fifty for 50 cents Under favor
able circumstances the'e calculations would
not mislead him, but he has to make them
with twenty people at his window Watching
him and waiting impatiently for their turn,
and he has to make them after having made
1000 other calculations and when his facul-
ties are completely jaded. Sometimes when
four hours on stretch suddenly all my
senses leave me, and couldn't take nickel
out of dime to save my life. just have
TO hold my head with my hand, for q
minute until reason returns, and then pitch
in again"
CARELESS CUSTOMERS.
DO the customers always state their
wishes clearly7n
rnul A man .u;lI elan dnuv,, q
cents, and then give the clerk a con lemptu-
GUS glance, as much to say, Can't you I'M
derstand, you dolt, that want two 1-cent
stampsr But the clerk does not know
whether he wants that or a 2-oent stamp. or
q postal-card. or two postalcardA or a
newspaper wrapper Another man will
slap down nickel, and cry out Ave- He
may mean a Scent stamp, or Ave 1-cent
stamps, OF five postal cards, and it takes
a parley to find out Sometimes It
will take foreigner a whole minute to ex-
plain what he wants for his quarter. You
would hardly believe 1t, but very frequently
a wel[dressed person, generally woman,
will come to the window and say COM
posedly, Give me ONE >tamps, please and
then leaning on her elbow gazs out into the
streets dreamily Until the clerk asks her
what sort OF stamps and how many abe
WdICS. "A large QuLnD9T OIL CuSOOu6E3 dSA
for letter-stamp,, as If that was putting a
very fine point on it."
"Are these all your dutiesp
"No, these are only small part Of them.
The retail stamp clerk Is a weighmaster He
weighs hundreds of letters and parcels .
day. the weight of which must be determined
within half an ounce. Tnen, the contents
being learned, he must estimate the postage
according to the nature of the contents and
according to the destination and make mp
the amount in stamps. This Is very trying
to the patience and, may add to the eyea
So, LIKEWISE, Is the counting of postal caris,
which stick together so tightly that mis-
takes are very easy. While the clerk is at
tending to all these duties he Is acting as .
general intelligence Office. People ply him
with questions concerning the other depart-
ments Of the postoffice, concerning the ar
rival and departure OF mail trains and mail
steamers, and even concerning the location
OF the streets and the express Offices.
HARDEST OF ALL.
1.-THE hardest work Is yet to be spoken of,
and begins when the clerk shuts his window,
and when the public supposes that he is en-
joying season of wellearnsd repose.
Either then or at some time before he opens
his window the next day, he has to count
Lto SeoA tAuu tt1ho u AulA AuNouLOTy u I'LL his
stock estimating the value of every stamp,
card, envelope and wrapper in his posses
sion in dollars, cents and mills, and adding
it all together make IL come out $500 or
500 according to the amount OF stock he Is
carrying. This he never can do Though
lie makes 10 or is cents day
by odd mills charged on envelopes he
always loses enough In making change to
make his account somewhat short, and hs
has to go down into his pocket for the short
age. The best of clerks VIII have an average
loss of 81 week, and inexperienced clerks
have been known to lose from $50 to $40 q
month. Very often some mistake in his
figuring, especially when done after day
of exhausting work, will bring out an APP
parent shortage of SIS or $50 and then the
work Of taking stuck has all to be done over
again, TO find out where the mistake Is"
"But then the salary must be good"
"There is right where you are lame. Ths
pay Of the different clerks employed In tbs
retail stamp department Is different In each
case, and ranges from $l8 to $9l week,
the losses reducing 1t at least 81 a week
How any young man with life before him
can think Of seeking such employment can
not understand"