Arizona republican., 1904-06-05
THE PHOENIX P0STOFFIcE
And the Reason People Have Trouble
 Getting Their Mail.

It is surprising that anybody gets his mail regularly and on time through the postofItce of southwestern tourist resort city. That may seem to be a startling statement, but it is true and it is no fault of the postoffice employees, either. The fault is entirely with the patrons of the office and their correspondents. It is a fact susceptible of proof any day that not ten per cent of the letters arriving in Phoenix are correctly addressed. There are prob- ably few, if any, other towns in the United States where SO large a propor- tion of the mail is insufIiciently ad- dressed. as is the case with Phoenix. And it is all because the people of Phoenix and their correspondents re- fuse to take cognizance of the fact that the place is rapidly changing from a village to city. Village methods have been necessarily discarded on account of the great volume of business and the people refuse to give attention to the details of metropolitan methods. There are other cities of similar size going through similar changes, but in few is there so large floating population.
 It is likely that every carrier and ev-
 
 ly the majority of postoffice patrons in his district, but the trouble with in- sufficiently addressed mail is to get it properly separated and thrown to the right district. If it is properly ad- dressed the office force does not need to know any of the patrons personally, but under obtaining conditions for a correct distribution not only does each ho tO in h ic department, but there is one man. the separator. who has to know the cor rect address of every person who lives in this city and on all rural routes em- anating from it. And of course there is no human who could acquire and keep In mind all th.s information, even if the population never changed, and th,re are in fact from fifty to 100 orders for change of address. filed at the Phoenix postoffice every day.
 The reader will better understand perhaps if he can be made to appre- ciate something of the volume of busi- ness done in the Phoenix postoffice. Take the letter mail alone for illustra- tion. Often when the bags are opened containing the joint mail from the east and west, letters are taken out aggre- gating five rows across the seven foot table of the separator, or a total of thirty-five feet in length. To make 1t more clear. were the letters arranged in single pile on the sidewalk, the pile would reach to the roof of the postoffice building, which is a high two story structure. It is a task like that the separator addresses himself to every morning. His work is to throw the letters into separate boxes, one for each rural route, each carrier, and each of the box departments and general de- livery departments in the office, for later handling by other clerks. Grant that the separator was all wise; that he knew everything. The respective clerks must still know everything in their departments or mistakes would still occur. The separator might know certain letter went to a certain de- partment, but the other clerk would not and unless the letter is fully addressed an error might occur. But if the letter is insufficiently addressed and the sep arator does not know the party, he throws it with a pile that amounts to hundreds every day and that is passed over to the directory clerk to study out. But if every employe of the postoffice knew intimately every patron of the office, mistakes would still occur unless letters were fully addressed.
 A has a business on Washington street and lives in a carrier district He insists that all his mail go to his store Some of it comes addressed to his res idence. His fate, or the fate of his mail depends entirely upon the post office force.
 With B. the conditions are reversed. He has a shop on the street that every body knows. A friend writes him and addresses the letter to the shop, whan his orders are to take it to the house. It is up to the postoffice clerk again.
 C. has lived here since the town was laid out. He is such an old settler that everybody, even the postoffice clerks, know him. Nobody thinks of putting anything on his letter except c, Phoenix. He may be in any one of half dozen carrier districts or he may have a box. He may have changed his residence recently to another part of the city. Everybody knows him, but nobody can find him. But he's mad if his mail is not delivered. It's up to the clerks again.
 D lived in district No. l and moved to No. 2. A letter comes with no street address, but the separator thinks he knows the man and of course sends the letter gallivanting through district No I, hunting for the owner. If D has left the proper order to change delivery he will probably get the letter after the change book has been consulted. Had