The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-07-25
At THE POST OFFICE.
No Information By the Telephone.
New Carpet Coming.

piOhSy Oiuet anu ueblSlFy Will Ue sup
piled and that the same will be
shipped from Washington as soon as
practicable.
New Designs In Stamps.
The Post ONCE Department will
soon begin the issue of stamped en-
velopes and newspaper wrappers bear
ing embossed postage stamps of new
designs In four denominations--1, 2,
A and scent.
The form of these stamps will be
an ellipse on end. The subjects, in
bas-relief, and the colors Of their
backgrounds will be:
1c, Benjamin Franklin, green.
&c, George Washington, red.
&c, Benjamin Franklin, black.
sc, George Washington, blue.
Within a border surrounding the
subject in bas-relief will appear in
white embossed capital letters the
words United States," and delomina-
ton Gone Cent" 1.-TWO Cent" etc.
The denomination will also appear in
large numerals q, 2, etc., one on
each side of the subject.
oskaloosa r. F. D. Carriers.
For the three months ending Jule
30 the three rural carriers out of the
Oskaloosa post Office delivered and
collected 76,464 pieces of mail, 49,707
Of which were newspapers and 26,757
being letters and merchandise pack.
ages. OF the total number delivered
and collected Carrier No. had to his
credit 37,711, No. had 1879 and No.
3 had 1884. This is an average of
about $50 pieces of mail per family
along the routes or about 3 pieces per
family each trip. That errors and
wong delivery now and then occur
is not to be wondered at, and yet
these errors during the above period
have been less than / to each 5000
pieces handled, and many of these
have been because of being poorly or
wrongly addressed. 1t must be re-
membered that the rural carrier sell
dom sees mis- patrons, their box Is on
the roadside, and they live from an
eighth to mile and sometimes a
mile and half away, and If he
makes an error in delivery ne has no
way of correcting 1t till the next day
and sometimes the day after. Often
people finding wrong mail in their
box instead of so marking it>and leav-
ing it in the box, carry it to the house
and hold it till sometime they are
coming to town" wi1en they will
bring it to the Office If they don't for
get it. The rural carrier is human
he makes mistakes, but he is about
as free from them as the average per-
son, and he keeps fighting them all
the time.
No Mail by Telephone.
1t is not generally known, but a
fact nevertheless, that employees of
the post Office are forbidden to give
information concerning or take IL
structions regarding mail over the
telephone. A rule recently issued by
the department forbids the post Of
flee employees to answer any such
queries received ov r the telephone.
That there are many valid reasons
in support of the departments action
Is apparent as soon as the matter is
given a little consideration. AS all
clerk has to identify a person at the
telephone Is their voice-an uncer-
tainty even between two most init
mate-impositio1 becomes the cas-
lest matter possible, with the respol-
sibillty all on the employee, and he
subject to dismissal, fine or impris-
onment, as to give information
regarding piece of mail to any one
except the sender or the aidressee
means one or all three. To take in
structions regarding the delivery or
forwarding Of mail over the tele-
phone Is just as dangerous, as a rival
or enemy wishing to pry into private
affairs or Inconvenience a competitor
could easily do 20 by the telephone
method and the employee would have
to bear the brunt of the blame. The
rule of the department Is in force
and the public is asked to take note
of the fact.
Things to Remember.
Put your name and address in up
per left hand corner of envelope or
package. This will secure return Of
mail or enable notification to be sent
you II mail Is not deliverable.
Address your mail completely and
legibly, and avoid authorizations. AL
ways use street ami number If you
know them; but IN any event make
the address a definite something, not
an indefinite nothing. The word
"City" ID not an address. Always
write out the post ONCE name. Use
NORTH" South" East and West"
when these form part of street names
and use Avenue" Road" and
Street" correctly, because to con-
fuse them means delay and annoy.
ance.
Write address on packages when
do not use tags If It can be
avoided--they are liable to be torn