The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-04-05
POST OFFICE
AND PUBLIC
Letter Writers Here
Cause Much
Trouble.
MAIL RECEIPTS
ARE INCREASING
People Fail to Cooperate With
Department and Make Un-
called for Complaints.

Co-operation on the part of the public
will do wonders toward assisting the
Honolulu postoffice in the rapid assert
ing and delivery of the mails. Much
of the complaint now being launched
against the postoffice management is
uncalled for and the cause relates more
to the people of this city and all the
towns on the Islands than to the post
office itself.
An investigation of the manner in
which the mails are handled in the local
office convinces the observer that there
are conditions and difficulties to be
overcome here which are not met else
where in an American city. The cos
mopolitan character of the population,
the lack of street addresses and box
numbers on letters received from
abroad and the time of arrival and de-
parture of the mails establishes the fact
that the Honolulu office cannot be COM
pared to any office in the United
States.
An Advertiser reporter was escorted
through the various departments of the
postoffice yesterday by Chief Clerk
Louis Kenake, who outlined the meth
DDS now in vogue in handling the mass
of letters, papers and packages which
come in and go out of the small build
ing which houses Uncle Sans postal
facilities in Honolulu. The manner in
which each letter is received at the side
door from the mail wagons, its removal
from the pouch in which it has trav-
eled perhaps thousands of miles, the
stamping of the Honolulu date-mark,
the assortment with letters for pri-
vate boxes, general delivery or for
sacks for other Islands, was carefully
followed. One can realize only by OBJ
servation what a fine system Uncle Sam
employs in caring for the smallest and
largest of packages and at the same
time the tremendous difficulties which
are encountered by the smalh>force of
sixteen men of all nationalities who
work" the mail
HOnolulans have not forgotten the old
methods of sending out their city and
Island mail, and it is due to many of
the large business houses that so much
unnecessary work is eXacted of the
clerks In the olden days of the mon
archical and republican postoffices,
when everybody KIN w everybody else
and it was unnecessary to write on a
letter more than plain John Smith.
~
promptly. Today, when the mail mat
ter received at the postoffice from the
ocean steamers amounts to more
than four times what it did two
years ago, with clerks constantly
being changed, plain John Smith,
City" or James Brown, Honolulu" is
not sufficient to insure proper delivery.
Letters in this day and age must be
f,,n olI
or box number. BY so doing the clerks
are relieved of the constant worry as
to which John Smith" it is, and wheth-
err he has a box or whether it goes into
the mass of letters which are found
at the general delivery window.
Here is an instance of this very
thing" said Mr.. Kenake, reaching to
the asserting table and taking a hand
full of letters just deposited by a well
known business firm. The envelopes,
inscribed with the firm name, contained
the monthly statement of account and
they were but small part of the thou
sands of such envelopes which nave
been dropped into the postoffice since
April 1.
Here Is one directed to John c.
The clerk, when he picks that up, has
to think quickly and he must know
whether that person has a box or
whether he gets his mail at the general
delivery window. The next question
arises, Which Window? You would
not suppose from a glance at it that
this man is a Hawaiian. I happen to
know him, as / do almost every one in
town. Well, some clerk who doesn't
know John C would naturally pitch
the letter into General Delivery and
John c. would inquire in vain at
the Hawaiian window for his letter.
So you see we have to remember many
things and the clerks heads are just
crammed with such data. What's in a
name? Well, just ask any of the clerks
and they will tell you.
1.-THE business houses are not careful
in this matter and If they knew that
they were the ones that caused so much
of the complaints that pour into the
office weekly, I am sure they would
rectify their present methods. Do you
for moment a San Francisco
firm would send out a bunch of en-
velopes like these? No, sir; they know
that they would reach the dead letter
Office eventually, and in the case of pa
pers. ETC., the fire. Many such letters
dropped into the boxes here find their
way to the dead letter office. 1 have
been in this office for eight wears and
know pretty nearly everybody and Of
ten save letters from being sent to the
dead letter office, but suppose am sick
and the mail is worked by comparative
ly new clerks, a great many people in
this city will wait in vain for their LEFT
ters
Another thing is that those people
who have boxes forget to inform their
correspondents that their box number
is so-and-so. Of course we all know
that prominent men have such-and
such box, but when the number Is not
on the letter the boys have got to think
it out each time. How much better 1t
would be if these letters had Box No.
701,' ETC., on them, as the case may be.
The clerks don't have to read the names
Just the numbers.
Here are a few statistics which L
believe will interest the Honolulu pub