The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-12-19
FACILITIES IN
GRAND FORKS
OFFICE
Christmas Season Adds More
Men to the Local Post
office

With two additional men going on
duty in the postoffice Wednesday
morning. and with three men with
teams commencing work Thursday
morning. facilities for handling the big
Christmas business in the Grand
Forks postoff1ce will be materially bet
tered.
AS vet the plans with reference to
Sunday and Christmas day delivery
v not been laid. Christmas comes
on Monday. making two holidays in
succession, but with such a. tremend-
Gus mail as is assured for those days.
special efforts will be put forth to
make deliveries.
n is the season of hurry and
worry at the Grand Forks postofice-
all because the American public has
n year. as in the past. the week
before Christmas Is as busy as ever,
with both incoming and outgoing
mails three or four times their nor
NAL sizes. The postal clerks are buri-
ed under a flood Of mail, the most of
which Is Christmas packages and let
tiers. The carriers have increased
burdens and they are looking forward
to the day before Christmas as the
hardest of the year.
1t is only the thoughtful-and they
are few-that have consideration
enough for the employees Of Uncle Sam
to mail their Christmas packages a
few days before Christmas sc that
there Is no congestion of the mails.
Most people wait until a day or SO be-
fore Christmas and then mail their
gifts. his makes ardous labors not
only for carriers, but also for all post
office employees.
Christmas day. when others are en-
Joying sweet repose, when most peo-
pie are carefree and more or less taken
up with the festivities of the Yuletide
the carriers will be blowing their way
through snow drifts to deliver some
Delated gift. His work does not end
there. 1t is generally the case, that
the mails are as heavy for the three
days following the holiday as on the
days before.
Rusl, in All Departments.
Although the duties Of the carrier
are perhaps the most burdensome of
any of the %postoffice employees, the
clerks get their share Of the holiday
work. The volume of the mail being
exceptionally heavy requires their o
slant attention and the strain is a
hard one. On Christmas day. they
must work hard while others are en-
joying themselves.
All branches of the %postOfice service
are worked to capacity during the
holiday rush.. The stamp and general
delivery windows are brought into
close contact with a stream of impa-
tient shoppers who come to the Office
either to inquire for or mail packages
and letters. The registry clerk and
the money order department come in
for their share of the rush.
Most small valuables which are sent
through the mails As Christmas gifts
are registered and this week will find
q. line of people in front of the registry
window daily The money order bust
ness in Grand Forks Christmas week
is always heavy, due to the fact that
there are many people of foreign birth
who reside here, who remember their
people at home with Christmas gifts
of money. 1t is estimated hat many
thousands of dollars are sent from
Grand Forks to foreign countries dur
ing the month of December every year.
The rush of foreign money orders is
practically over now, as the orders
would have to be dispatched early to
arrive at their destinations on or be-
fore Christmas day.