Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-06-15
ONE MONTH AT pOSlOFFlCE
Every Piece Of Mail Matter Count
ed for 81 Days. n,
Month Was q Light One, and Yet the
Clerks and Carriers Handled over
n Million Pieces during May
Work OF the Carriers.

Through the courtesy Of Assistant Post
master Peter F. Carney. the Free Press
has obtained the results Of the special
count Of mail matter that was made at
the Burlington postoffice during the month
OF May. The report Just completed is one
of the most difficult ones that the office
has ever had to prepare. 1t was neces-
sary for every clerk and ever carrier to
make a careful count of every piece of
nail Of any description that passed
through his hands, and the authorities at
the Office had even more work to complete
their task and work out the figures re-
CURED by the government. for the mail
was divided into II different classes. and
1t was necessary to estimate the exact
amount Of time consumed in handling
each class.
In postal circles the month Of May is
marked by the lightest business OF the en-
tire year. Spring advertising Is over
with and fall advertising has not begun,
SC that large amount of circulars, IN
quiries in answer to advertisements, ana
"follow-up" letters from business con-
Germs are eliminated. The heaviest bust
hess handled by the postoffice comes in
the months OF November, December and
January, but strange as 1t may seem, the
rumber Of pieces of mail matter handled
in December Is not so large as In Novem-
her or January. although the bulk OF mail
matter In December Is the heaviest for
ary month In the year. on account of the
great increase in the number OF parcels.
Although the local Office does not handle
so much foreign mail as the st. Adams
postoffice. which Is a distributing center
for International mail entering and leav-
ing Vermont yet the amount Of business
done here. quite naturally, Is the largest
In any city of this State. During the
month OF May according to the report
Just issued this office sent out 3lO3i6
reces of first-class matter. consisting of
sealed letters and postal cards. OF second
class matter, which includes newspapers,
3i2,107 pieces were sent out, and of all
other classes there were 12oSS pieces.
This makes a total Of 1894 pieces of mall
sent out OF the building.
The incoming mail was considerably
lighter in amount. First-class mail num-
tered 3l5,102 pieces, second class matter
amounted to 1862 pieces and all other
classes included S9635 pieces making
total OF 4S4,379 pieces received and distr
May therefore reaches 1.2s7.7l3. the num-
her OF pieces of mail handled by tho Bur
,ington postofilce And May falls far be-
low some months In which the record
runs as high as 100000. The record for
tie entire year is in the neighborhood of
?o,ooo,0Oo
Tho carriers delivered In May 3oS,79l
rteces Of mail Of all classes, and this work
was cone in total time OF ri ,7o minutes.
so that, on the average, 40 pieces Of
mail was delivered each minute From
street boxes, 2e7.47s pieces were collected
In cl.5S minutes. an average of 1O1-2
pieces per minute. Collections are made
so much faster because the carrier makes
fewer stops in going over the same
ground. Taking into consideration the
work of casing and routing, done In the
Office. and OF delivering. done outside, the
2-15 pieces of mail per minute.
The average number OF pieces of outgo-
ing mail handled by the Office per minute
was l1.3, but since the business for the
month was so light the same force could
have handled easily twice as much. The
but the rate of transmission for outgoing
mail while they were actually handling
nail was IS pieces per minute. In the eX-
aminations held this spring one man dis
tributed &C letters per minute correctly.
The required standard for qualification is