Arizona republican., 1912-10-04
PARCELS POST WILL
 AID COUNTRY MERCHANT |

will become a familiar sign on wa gons and automobiles in the larger cities after the inauguration of the parcel post, January 1 next. Postmas- ters of the five largest cities of the country recently in conference in St Louis with officials of the post office department and the committee which was appointed to work out plans for the operation of parcel post. believe the larger part of the business of mer- chants parvel delivery concerns will ultimately be handled through the mails.
 This is a parcel post development which obviously was overlooked when the law was hastily passed in the clos ing days of the last session. If any member O. congress seriously raised the question whether retail merchants would not use Uncle Sams postal ser vice as a local delivery agency, that fact is not generally known. When the postmasters of the large cities began to look around this was one of the first propositions that confronted them. Some of them called upon lead ing merchants department store heads and others-and asked frankly whether they would patronize the par eel post for local deliveries. Many of them said they would as soon as it got into good working order.
 Long Haul For Small Cost.
 Big department stores, of course, will be obliged to maintain their own de- livery system in large measure for the fi01nc md packages that are not mailable under the law. But they will turn over to the post office the long hauls" to outlying and distant suburbs and have their wagons and automobiles make deliveries on the short and less eX- pensive routes. For example, the de partment stores in St. Louis have two deliveries each week to distant suo- urbs. Instead of holding goods for sew eral days they will utilize the parcel post for all mailable packages, send l ing them out daily and saving money | in delivery charges in the course Of l the year When not necessary to de- l liver large or heavy articles to distant | suburbs these stores probably omit l their usual deliveries altogether, send | ing all mailable matter by parcel post | That this would be entirely feasible 1 will be readily seen when 1t IS stated that a suit of clothes could be sent by | parcel post within a radius of 75 mllts | for about 12 cents, and a pair of shoes | for exactly one half that amount The | parcel postage would be cents for the | first hound and 1 cent for each addl- l tionaI pound. The average suit would | weigh about or pounds boxed, ana
 shoes under pounds.
 | How to take care of the expected | volume of business of this kind in the
 large cities is a problem worthy of the
 best efforts of the brightest of govern
 mont experts. That the $750,000 ap-
 propriation to inaugurate the parcel
 most will not go very far towards building or leasing warehouses or re-
 ceiving and distributing rooms IS | certainty.
 Equipment Must Be Increased.
 1 How best to deliver packages py tne
 wholesale is a very serious part or the 1 same problem. That largely ln- | creased force of employees will be re- ouired is accepted by all who have studied the matter even casualty. Il shoe merchant should mail 100 pairs | of shoes to patrons through the par
 cel post in St. Louis, for example, th' s present carrier force could hardly p'
 exnected to handle them unaided, es | necially when other merchants Wer'
 dumping large numbers of parcels O s one kind or another in the malls. Ih' Christmas rush would be daily occur renee in the city if the parcel pos 1 were generally utilized for local deliv erv purposes by St. Louis merchants Q The inauguration of automobile am
 | wagon delivery service would becom a prime necessity. Other equlpmen
 would be imperatively necessary. In spite of these formidable difficul Il ties. however. the post office officlal | itself when it cts in good working or are confident parcel post will pay to ., der and will not add to the postal de
 ficit. Some officials believe 1t will tur
 surplus into the treasury at the en I, of each year when well established an
 running smoothly. Meanwhile man . hard nuts remain to be cracked l
 working out plans for the inauguratio IF of the new service. Officials discov , cred long ago that the task is a gigan e tic one.
 S., Even on rural routes, where tn