The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-12-04
FRUIT BOXES SHOULD
BE WELL NAILED

SINNERS Of apples and other fruits
~ erpress often make the complaint
that the packages have been broken
into and the contents pilfered. On ae-
count Of such charges the Glacier fe
Gently wrote 10 +. NJ. Nhittle. super
intendent Of the 0regon.Washington
division of the American Express Co;
The local agent Of the company and
his assistants give service that y IN
every way satisfactory 10 the public.
The trouble arises while the fruit IS on
The road When the messenger sees
that the package is prepaid and sur
misses that the box is going as gut,
he feels free that he may take some oil
he fruit and that the donee will never
make any complaint.
Mr.. Whittle in reply to a recent let
ter says: NJ,
81 think you can readily appreciate
the fact that the pilfering OF express
shipments while 10 our possession IS a
matter Of much embarrassment to US,
and that the management of this COM
pany by no means eountenanees the
abstraction Of one grape, one apple
one pear, or one cherry from SNIP
mept in its charge, and that we are
regularly and constantly making a con-
seientious effort to impress upon our
employees the fact that the abstraction
of even one grape from crate is Just
as much an act of theft as Though q
dollar were taken from the till.
"In order to better our service and
IN reduce the number of so-called cases
of differing, we are at this time con-
ducting a most energetic campaign by
use of travelling officers, who ride with
messengers and who also investigate
the methods in vogue at offices as tt
the care to and handling of our busl'
ness. and we believe not a single thing
! is being overlooked in our effort tt
provide the most efficient and satlsac
tory service to the pubic it is possible
| to MAINTAIN.
"Uur investigation so far develop:
quite clearly the fact that in the
great majority of cases where oui
patrons have charged US with pllferlng
on the part of our employees the loss OF
commodities is due primarily to the in
secure method of packing. 1t is a wei
known fact that express means expe
dited service. Our business is handled
on fast passenger trains and wher
commodities are handled in less thar
carload lots transfers en- route mus
necessarily occur, and in order not t
discommode the travelling public by
unreasonable and unnecessary delays
to passenger trains, the business mus
be handled quickly, and while we have
| laid down stringent rules as to tht
care that must be exercised IN the
handling of our business, unless ship
ments are securely packed, damages
will occur. In the case of fruit ship
ment, and particularly those forwarded
individually and not through regular
agencies, we find much insecure pack
ing stats become loosened from crates
which are not well made, allowing 8
portion Of the contents to fall out, anC
upon delivery it is assumed by the con
signee that someone en- route has pur'
posely, and for the purpose of personal
use, distracted portion of the fruit.
eve will continue our efforts to re
duce the number of these occurrence
to the minimum, and | would sugges
that you also impress upon shippers
the extreme necessity for properl!
preparing their fruit for shipment. AM
to use such secure packing cases a
will preclude the possibility of damag,
by ordinary handling.