The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1896-12-22
POSTOFFICE AT HOME
LETTER CARRIERS TO SELL STAMPS
AND COLLECT LETTERS.

DepeItment ~ washington 20 fe0Ole
Stamps From House to House-Has Al
ready Proved . Time Saver by Tests Made.
The postmaster general has issued an
order extending the house to house mail
collection and delivery system so as to
provide for the sale of postage and spe-
cial delivery stamps by letter carriers
while making their rounds. The scheme
is one outlined to the postoffice depart
ment six years ago by Postmaster Har-
low of st. Louis.
The carriers will be provided with an
official stamp selling envelope, which
will contain order slips. upon which or
ders Cor stamps may be indicated as fol-
lows:
Five (5) two (2) cent stamps; twenty
five 1867 two (2) cent stamps; two ca
five t5) cent stamps; five (5) one ID cent
stamps; twenty-five (25) one CD cent
stamps.
The department order further pro-
vides that the Postal Improvement COM
pany shall assign to the United States
all United States patents now held by it
OH the envelopes adopted, and all United
States patents pertaining thereto which
may be held by it in the future, with the
understanding that these envelopes shall
only be used in connection with the house
to house collection and delivery boxes
adopted and tested by the department.
1t shall also provide one of these envel
opes with each house collection and de-
livery box of the forms adopted by the
department, without cost to the United
States or to the person purchasing such
boxes, such envelope to become the prop
erty Of the United States. The requi-
site number of envelopes for the use of
letter carriers is to be provided by the
department..
Carrier shall collect from house letter
boxes official stamps, selling envelopes
containing orders for stamps when such
orders are properly indicated, with the
name and address of the person ordering
written thereon, and when accompanied
by an amount equal to the value of the
stamps ordered, and he shall turn over
to the clerk designated to receive them
such official stamp selling envelopes,
whose duty it shall be to fill such orders
by placing in the envelope the stamps so
ordered and paid for. and the carrier, on
his next trip, shall deliver this envelope
in the delivery compartment CT the box
at the address designated in the order.
This order provides for one of the
most radical improvements made in the
postal system. In operation the system
Is perfectly simple. The following is an
explanation made by Major Harlow OF
its workings when he first presented the
plan to the postofice department:
Mrs. A. in San Francisco has written
q letter to her husband in New York.
but when she goes to post it finds that
she has no stamp. She does not live
near the postoffice, postage stamp
agency or even convenient drug store,
and it is raining hard. Mr.. A. would
have to wait for his letter if Uncle Sam
did not step gallantly forward and offer
his services as errand boy. Mrs. A.,
having provided herself with house
collection and delivery box Of the form
specified by the department, has one OF
the above described envelopes and marks
in the space designated on the order slip
for unstamped matter a cross-thus. K.
She makes a similar mark opposite some
one Of the quantities of stamps, perhaps
five 2's, writes her name and address on
the margin, incloses 10 cents and slips
the envelope in the collection compart.
ment of her letter box. The act of mail.
ing the letter has raised the carriers
signal on the box. He sees it on his
next trip, unlocks the box and carries
the letter and the stamp selling envel
ope to the postoffioe, hands them to the
clerk in charge, and the latter takes out
the money, inserts the proper number OF
stamps to fill the order, affixes the
stamp to the letter, forwards it by the
next mail, and on his next trip the
carrier returns to Mrs. A. 8 letter box
the envelope containing the stamps.
Mrs. A. removes the stamps and keeps
the envelope until she wishes to order
again. Perhaps she wanted the letter to
be delivered quickly, and she generally
does. If so, she indicated this on the or
der slip, inthe space provided, by order
ing a special delivery stamp, and added
10 cents to the amount in the envelope,
and the stamp was put on for her at the
postoffice.
The system of collecting mail from
houses by means Of letter boxes has al
ready been proved time saver by tests
begun under the last administration, an
the time saved by having a box in which
the carrier can leave mail without hav.
ing to wait for tardy servant to answer
his ring at the doorbell more than COM
pensates for the time consumed in COL
lecting mail. Now the department takes
another step and proposes to sell stamps
to its patrons in manner which will
take no more of the carriers time than
to collect or deliver an ordinary letter.
It is expected that this peddling OF
stamps from house to house, for that is
what it really means, will largely in.
crease the sales Of stamps as soon as the
system is well introduced and in general
use.-St Louis Globe Democrat