Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-20
GIFTS SHIPPED
BY THOUSANDS
CHRISTMAS RUSH KEEPING
CARRIERS BUSY
LOS ANGELES HOLDS RECORD AS
PACKAGE CITY
Armies of Men Working Night and
Day at Wells, Fargo G Co.'s
Express Office Forward
Ing Bundles

volved in handling the vast volume of Christ
mas packages that is being shipped east for
! friends and relatives Of people in Los An
| geles or received here for distribution Hun
fdreds of men and women in our postoffice and
| express offices working night and day
! in a vain endeavor to handle the flood that is
| pouring in from every side.
Many express and postoffice officials are
working eighteen hours out of twenty four,
| looking after the large number of auxiliary
| helpers employed during the holiday season.
And they all doing their work cheerfully.
The public is receiving the kindest attention,
and no city in the United States is receiving
| such excellent service in the dispatch and
| distribution of packages
! Los Angeles handles more Christmas pack
| ages than any other city of its size in the
] United States. This is due to the fact that
| such a large portion of the population is made
| up of visitors from other states. In most of
| the large eastern cities people have their
| friends and relatives of a lifetime around
them in the same community. and Christmas
| packages can be delivered in person. But
Los Angeles has grown to a city within the
past thirty years, and its Inhabitants are
drawn from every state in the Union and
| every country in the world.
| The average layman have only the
| slightest conception Of the vast and intricate
workings of the express offices the post
office. They are huge machines in which the
human beings the cogs And they work
with system and like clocks. Each of the
thousands of packages must be accounted for
and each must find its way through the
myriad processes of distribution to the right
place.
Branch Offices Opened
A few figures on the business conducted by
the Wells-Fargo Express company in Los An
geles last week will give a slight idea of
the magnitude of the work of caring for the
packages sent east Besides the regular cen
trail offices, at the corner of Sixth and Main
and the several branch offices, a number of
special offices have been established for
Christmas service. One of these is located
in the Broadway Department store another
at BullOCk'S and q third af IIap
Each of these auxiliary offices employs from
three to five clerks.
In each OF the regular offices special tables
Tor receiving packages have been set up to
take care of the additional business. The
main office practically never closes. There
are twenty-five men In the receiving depart
ment of the central office and about fifty In
the city who devote all their time to taking
packages and receipting for them.
Practically all the business of the past week
has been outgoing from Los Angeles. During
the first part of the week the packages were
mainly for points In the far east Of the United
states. During the latter part of the week
packages Tor middle western points predomi-
mated. AS the time before Christmas be-
comes shorter the packages received are for
destinations nearer to Los Angeles.
But next week the great bulk of the express
business will be taking of incoming ex-
press packages This is where the delivery
wagons Will figure so largely. In shipping out
packages fewer wagons are needed. because
people take their own bundles to the offices of
the company. But most of the incoming pack.
ages are to be delivered to residences, and a
great wagon force will be required.
Wagons by the Score
During the past week about rs wagons per
day have been kept busy. During the coming
week at least a hundred wagons will be re-
quired to do the business. All these wagons
represent an immense outlay of capital Each
large wagon, with a team of horses and COM
plete outfit, represents outlay of about $500
The smaller ones about $500 or $500.
From 5000 to 1000 packages day have been
handled by the Wells-Fargo company during
the past week. These packages average in
value about SIS each. 1t is estimated by the
company officials that they have been handling
about SIS, 900 worth Of Christmas goods day
In addition to the main office twenty branch
offices have been contributing an ever increas-
ing stream of outgoing packages In the main
office seven men have been kept busy wrapping
and tying packages for customers This is
done solely as matter Of accommodation to the
public
But the great scene Of human activity is at
the shipping offices at the Santa Fe and the
Southern Pacific stations. The continual buzz
OF workmen shouting to one another, the roll
ing of trucks and the clanking of the strong
boxes make up strange conglomerate of sound
And the scene is as animated at night as In
the daytime shift goes on at o'clock in
the evening and stays on all night C. N
Campbell, the genial general agent of the
Wells-Fargo company has been working night
and day during the past week, seeing that
everything moves properly and that the vast
NOluue OF pdckaBeS gets OIL on time He
probably knows more about the express bust
ness in its practical workings than any other
man in the United States, He also knows
every one of the 300 men under him by name
In the uptown office Assistant General Agent
e. r. Jones is omnapresent quantity
1t is estimated that more than 100 heavily
laden express cars left the city by the various
railway lines during the past week.
Loss Made impossible
The system of shipment is admirable Indeed
it must be in order to assure the arrival of
each small package to its destination, after
having mingled in a conglomorate bunch with
a thousand others. way bill is made out for
each package received at the down town ware
house. Then the packages are grouped in
places along the wall. according to the point
of destination. All packages for particular
point are thereupon placed in an iron bound
strong box, locked up and sealed to the agent
who will distribute them. The way bills cor
responding to the packages in that particular
box are placed together in an envelope and
consigned TO the same distributing agent. Thus
every package in every box is known by its
way bill in the envelope There is no posi-
bilty of loss.
Mr. Campbell and Mr.. Jones have arranged
an elaborate plan by which the incoming
packages this week will be delivered promptly
to the owners. Seven cars have been delayed
by washouts at Wnslow, Ariz but these are
due to arrive this morning By special ar
rangement the contents of these cars will be
taken out today and distributed to the owners
before nightfall, that they need not wait |
until Monday morning. The company wishes |
the public to understand that every package |
arriving in Los Angeles before noon Christmas |
day will be delivered at once. This will re- |
quire an immense effort, but the veteran Off |
GERS of the express company are determined |
that the biggest individual package city in the |
United States shall receive the finest service |
Any one desiring to send away packages to- |
day can take them to the depot offices and be |
The popular idea that pack |