The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-03-25
TROUBLES AT PosToFFICEs-
How Delays Occur and Mail Is Lost
by CareIeSsuesS.

The greatest nuisance with which
postoffces. especially those in the smaller
cities have to contend, said an official
of the Postoffice Department, this morn
ing lis that Occasioned by the thought
Iessness Of the great army of future men
ard women of this glorious Republic.
sometimes frreverently called school
kids Many Of these, during the school
months, flock to the postofice three or
four times a day, and frequently three
or four members of the same family re-
peat the same performance at short in
terKais Thus the mail of one family is
needlessIy called for by children twelve
or fifteen times q day for five or six con-
secutive days in the week without the de-
livery Of a solitary piece of mail for
weeks al a stretch, some older member
OF the family generally having called dur
ing the morning or afternoon
Parents and guardians can, if they
Will, do much toward abating this evil,
and at the same time benefit the children.
by appointing one OF them official mail
carrier for the family, whose duty it shall
be to call at the postoffice at stated and
SeasOnable times, and prohibiting others
from going there SO often.
a letter or postal that is worth writing
is certainly worth signing your name TO
IN fun. Failure to do this IS the cause
of many letters being forever lost to the
sender II undelivered, and containing no
return address, then they are sent TO the
Dead Letter Office and if uninteIIigentIy
signed, nothing remains but TO destroy
them. If properly signed they are re-
turned 70 the writer in an official envel-
ope.
When the postmaster tells you there
F. is nothing for you. just say there ought
/ to be, continued the official None
know better than he that things are not
always as they ought to be and it does
him good to feel that YOU think he is not
telling YOU the truth about it.
Among the mistakes most commonly
made BY otherwise careful people in post
ing mail matter and that should be stu
( diously avoided are: Failing to put their
own name and address on letters and
packages; failing to place stamps on let
ters. or failure TO place a sufficient
. amount of postage on them: mailing let
ters without addressing them; leaving off
the names Of the State, or putting on the
name Of their own States where some
| other State is intended; leaving of the
name of the pOstoffice, or addressing the
county instead OF the town; sometimes
leaving off the name of the person: US
ing revenue stamps which are not good
for postage; sending currency by ordina-
( ~ mail when a money order or registra-
ton can be secured at such small ex-
pense
These mistakes are generally due to
Carelessness. Those arising from lack OF
Information may be briefly stated as fol-
lows: Leaving letters unsealed under the
impression that they VIII go for one cent
though in the form Of a perOnal commu-
nicdtiOn; sealing a letter or package as
tight as the lips of an Egyptian mummy.
marking it photos. or merchandise. -
and supposing 1t viii go at the third or
fourth class rate; asking pOstmasters to
exchange stamps of one denomination for
those OF another. which is forbidden by
the law falling 10 put on regular post
age IN addition to the special delivery
stamp Then special delivery IS desired.
Mistakes will happen in the best reg
uiated institutions, and the pOStOffice is
no exception. but they are fewer there in
proportion TO the number OF pieces of
matter handled than anywhere else.
though il seems that the greatest kicker
gets more mistakes than all the other
persons combined