The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

L
small express branch how tire co,,,a,v
figured its rates. and had diftic1lt,, IN
getting away from him after racsiv.-g
that and q let OF Information Of tha nay-
OF the Interstate Comm cree Conm,scio,,
in the matter, comparisons with pares1
post a new mail rate just established
etc. Going thence TO the inquiry windog,
of the Grand Central postoffice [ waited
for the clerk on duty to leisurely finish
a conversation with-a neghboring clerk
but finally had to interrupt to ilouire
How can get map showing zones ana
rates. parcel post?'' He answered. Write
to the chief clerk at Washington, D. c."
No doubt that Is what he is told TO an
swer. But fancy going TO the inquiry
clerk in the railway station next door
asking for timetable of the New York
New Haven and Hartford with map, and
being told. Write to the chief clerk at
New Haven, Conn"
Under the new eight -hour-day system
for postal employees, the expense of run
ming the postoffice of course has in
creased. but what Is more interesting is
that the mails are slower 1t has not vet
become quite clear to the administration
officers why this should be. They inti-
mate that 1t is because tho public has
habit of posting mail at certain hours
For instance, the office boy posts 1t on his
way out at o'clock. Also there are GER
tain busy hours for the arrival and dis
tribution of mails with long waits be-
tween. Some of the eght-hour shifts will
be overwhelmed. and others Will have
little to occupy them. When the postal
administrators have adapted themselves
to the necessities of the eight-hour sys-
tenn, to the draft on theip forces caused
by the new banks and to the pros pective
additional labor to be done for the C. O.
D. service, no doubt there will be imme-
diately recorded a swifter advance in the
volume of the parcel post than even that
recorded for the initial quarter.
To do the maximum service possible,
however, there will need to be a more en-
terprising method OF spreading shipping
advice and information. and the institu-
tion OF several reforms.
Still Room for Improvement
One hears from the expresses of many
shippers who have been won away from
the parcel post. Just now." said a clerk
"a shipper who came back to us ex-
planned that when he left a lot of parcels
at the postoffice, addressed to the far
west, and inquired how long II would
take them TO arrive, the clerk answered :
'Oh, don't know. When we get a big
bunch together for a certain district we
send 1t OUT Then others come back to
us because we call for the shipment at
the shippers residence or place of bus
mess. In the mail the rule is that par
cells over four ounces cannot be mailed
at a station or at the postoffice itself
The new c. o. d. service of the post will
be handicapped by the restriction that
collections of money on a package can
only be made where there Is a money
order office. Also it works to our inter-
est that we do not charge 10 cents to in
.-Ir. .r,I..
zones where post and express rates are
nominally the same. you see we are real
ly 10 cents cheaper for those who want
insurance-and besides, the post is not
responsible for damage, only for complete
loss"
There is complaint against the zone
system. Modelled on Germanys. 1t was
supposed to protect the local tradesman
against the dealer in a far-away city
who could undersell the local man if thus
advantaged by low transportation rates,
because the city dealer would get his
goods cheaper through buying in larger
quantities. Postal administrators seem
to favor a fat rate, as with other classes
of mail, no matter what the distance in
miles. For New York and Boston, parts
of their zones run out to sea. For in
terror cities the zone system of rating
may be excellent. but for coast cities it
limits the number of places to which the
parcel rates may compete with the ex-
press.
Instead of zone system, the expresses
are contemplating a block plan for sys-
tematizing tariffs. 1t is a plan of group
ing express stations in geographical
blocks about SO miles square. so that for
rate purposes all the stations in one block
will be treated as if they We're one sta
ton For example" 1t is explained. lat
present there may be 80 different cities
or towns in another of the geographical
blocks 500 miles away At present the
tariff may show rate from each of these
30 towns in the one block to each of
the 30 towns in the other block, thus in
volving the possibility of showing 900
rates to cover the transportation of ex-
press matter from the 80 points in one
block to the 30 points in the other block
But under the new system now being
considered by the Interstate Commerce
Commission there will be a single state
ment of the rate from one block to the
other block. and this single rate will
serve as the rate from each of the 30
places in one block to each of the 80
places in the other block Numerous
other reforms tending to help us to COM
pete with the parcel post are under con-
sideration'
No Zones and Uniform Stamps
1t is the experience at the New York
postoffice that business would be greatly
facilitated if any stamp would carry par
GELS. Any stamps now will carry special
delivery If they equal the value of 10
cents. Having that rule, it was going
backward to require that parcels should
bear special parcels stamp. Delay on
account of errors misunderstanding of
the public in this mater has added con-
sderably to the expense of administra-
tion and no doubt also to the lessening
of patronage. for the popular habit seems
to be that the particular kind of stamps
necessary not being conveniently ct hand
the would-be patron rings up the express
Stores and business houses of course keep
themselves supplied to take advantage of
even fractional differences between ex-
press and mail, But the individual citi-
zen must keep an assortment of stamps
on hand of special sort and variety on
the chance that he may need them. 1T
also happens that the denominations OF
so cents and rs cents and 81 90 are sold
to almost no one except philatelists
There is a new three-cent parcetl stamp
bit scarcely anyone has had the con-
venienee of it, because they have gone to
collectors. The most sales are made of
the four and ive-cent denominations.
Official observation of the parcel post
workings indicates that it is the increased
size allowable rather than the added
weight that gives most extra trouble "At
Ea ster time" said one deputy you
should have seen the bonnet boxes tina
went OUT Fortunately the bonnets are