The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-06-20
100000 P|ECESOF
MAIL MATTER
DURING MAY
POstoffice Force Was Kept Busy
for Month
OUTGOING MAIL WAS LIGHTER
Entire Force Employed In Counting
Of Malls, Large Part Being
Handled Six Times.

During the month OF May, accord
ing to information furnished the Ban
ner through the courtesy Of Assistant
Postmaster II. +. Robinson, the Ben
nington postoffice handled nearly
100000 pieces of mail matter. This
is the result shown by the completion
at the local Office of the special count
ing of mail ordered throughout the
entire country by the government.
Necessitating, as 1t did, an accurate
count of every piece of mail Of every
description that passed through the
hands of every clerk and carrier, and
requiring that the exact time consum-
ed by them in handling be carefully
noted. the report just completed may
be said to have been the most diff
cult one the Bennington office has
had to prepare.
The work OF ascertaining the
figures required by the government
was by no means confined to the
clerks alone, as the authorities had
to prepare a report of the number Of
landings received by each of the 4
classes, which are subdivided into l6
different classes and the amount Of
time consumed in handling each
class.
AS large percentage of the incom-
ing mail was subjected to landings,
while it required from one to five
landings to assert the outgoing mail,
the total number of landings amount
ed to about 100000, with a total ex-
penditure of about 100000 minutes.
In preparing this report every
lclerk and carrier had to record every
piece of mail he handled and the
amount of time consumed In the oper
alton. From the numerous slips Of
paper containing the figures of the
clerks and carriers daily sheet
showing tie various subdivisions ant
the time required to handle each wa:
made.
BY carefully going over the daily
totals for each class at the last of the
month the required information wal
obtained
In all probability May was selected
J for the special counting because thii
month is known In postal circles a.
one of the lightest of the year Thi
is accounted for by the fact that Ma,
! | is between the two seasons when tn
advertising campaigns are conducted
The fall advertising has not begul
and the spring campaigns are oyei
The large amount of first and secon
class mail matter, such as circular
and letters containing answers an
' inquiries resulting from the adve
tisements, are thus eliminated.
The amount of incoming ma
= amounted to 1881 pieces, Of whic
. 1857 were second class matte
=" which consists of newspapers, mag
: zines and other periodicals. TIL
i clerks time in handling this numbt
. of pieces amounted to 30,SS0 minute
The carriers delivered little MOI
- than one half of the amount of ma
II received, having distributed 77S'
= pieces, of which 6,641 were secoI
10 class matter. The total number
:, minutes consumed by the carriers
" delivering this number of pieces WI
- 53,3S1.
The outgoing mail was considera
- ly lighter than the incoming, and &C
70 sisted of 1878 pieces of mail mi
ter, 1880 pieces of which were 81
. ond class. The carriers collected
te 26O pieces of the outgoing mail frc
nd the "a boxes and various 9th
es sources, and consumed 2,4O1 minui
er in doing so.
n The total amount OF both incomi
at and outgoing mail consisted of IL
nd 1874 pieces.