Imperial Valley press., 1922-04-18

letter to the pOstmaSterS In the various
Valley towns, requesting them to at
tend conference to be held at the Bar
bara Worth Hotel, on April % at p.
m. At this conference, to which each
postmaster is requested to bring five
prominent patrons of his office, plans
will be made to observe "Postal I'm
provement Week. in Imperial Valley
and bring the attention Of the public
to this nationwide movement. 1t is
also planned to form an ASSOCIATION Of
the postmasters in the Valley, in order
that there may be permanent organ
ization to bring about a closer degree
of cooperation between the Valley
towns, and provide a means for RENE
dying grievances without making com
plant to Washington or the inspector
at San Francisco.
Discussing the postoffice situation
with a representative of the Press.
Postmaster Collins stated that while
the majority of people in Ell Centre
were no doubt willing and anxious to
cooperate with his office, to the end
that better service might be gwen,
there is considerable number who
have little if any knowledge of the
rules and regulations of the depart
ment, and who, when they have de-
layed or lost mail, are prone to place
the entire blame on the postoffice, in
some cases doing it in very discount
eous manner, even toward the lady
clerks.
Notwithstanding frequent requests
that an effort be made to get mail to
the postoffice early in the day, and a
"Mail Early Week. observed some
time ago, the local postoffice is
swamped day after day with q deluge
! of mail pouring in between $50 and
| $3.50, completely upsetting the routine
of the office and making it necessary
for the clerks to work at topspeed and
after hours in order to get the mail
out on time at night. With little
! thought, this condition could be practic-
/ ally eliminated.
| Instruction for Children
AS part of a campaign to educate the
people to the methods of the postoffice,
Postmaster Collins has arranged to take
one class of school children in the high
er grades throught the postoffice on
feach day of next week, and show them
how mail is received, sorted and dis
patched, the handling of registered
mail, and the workings of the finance
division. There will also be short in
struction given by the postmaster to
the children on the necessity of ad-
dressing mail properly and through
them, making an effort to get their
parents to observe the postal require
ments in this respect. Incorrect ad-
dressing of mail is the cause for prac-
tically all missing letters being for
warded to the dead letter office at
Washington, and these reached the
enormous total of 100000 pieces of
mail during the year 1921. Ie-es
In connection with the desire to give
the people of Ell Centre better postal
service, the local postoffice has organ.
ized a welfare council similar to those
established in over 700 postoffices in
this country, a movement originated by
former Postmaster General Hays. The
purpose of the councils is to bring the
employees of the postoffice together at
stated times to discuss their work, WAYS
Of improving it, and suggesting rene
dies for existing shortcomings. The
local council meets regularly, with AS
sistant Postmaster Paul Lee, president,
and Miss L. A. c. Jones, secretary.
f. Mr.. Collins is also considering the
installation of an information bureau
similar to those existing in many of the
larger cities as suggested by the post
master general, where the permanent
md travelling public may obtain infor-
nation similar to that given out by the
various automobile organizations and
chambers Of commerce. 1F''dl7f.0