The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-05-03
\ Inconvenience 4 |
CAUS ! ] POOR [
ADDRESS Shown
Local Postal Employ.e Tells OF.
Trouble Of Clerks in
Office Here.

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! How a letter without a street
address mi ght have to go through
I the hands of forty carriers before
reaching the right person in Fair
mont Is explained by NJ G. r ollins.
q mem Der of the local postoffice
t5force, in an article describing the
Inconvenience caused by poorly
addressed mail Mr.. Rollins has
had a great deal Of experience in
the postal service, and bis article
explains in detail the troubles of
the postal employees in getting q
letter to its right location.
His article follows:
There is nothing about a letter
that is as important as the adj
dress; in fact, it is the largest
part, for without the address the
letter could not go through the
United States mails.
but Of what does the address
consist? Many patrons Of the
postal service are inclined to think
that it simply consists of a party's
name, and the Nance of a city and
state This might be sufficient in
the case Of small village. but IN
towns and cities of any size, It
only comprises a small portion,
which in the larger Offices causes
delay to the reIter and unneces-
sary work and expense to the gov
eminent.
''The city directory, of F'airmont
contains several instances of diff
erent people having the same
name and initials, and when a
letter maches the postoffce,
directed to one of8these parties, 1t
sisfdelayed, first for directory SER
vice, and in case Of a repetition Of
names, it is further delayed by
having to be delivered to each Of
the parties in turn, in order to
reach the right one. On the other
hand, if the street and mum Der, or
the rural route number had been
on it, it would have been delivered
on the first trip after it's arrival
at the office.
Forty Deliver Mail Here
Eve have eight rural carriers
and thirteen city carriers attached
to the Fairmonts postoffice, as fol-
lows two rural and six city car
rie1S at the main office; four rural
and three city at the East Side
station; one rural and two city at
Monon gah station and one rural at
Watson station. II each one of
these carriers had a patron named
John Smith on his route and a
letter came addressed to John
Smith, Fairmont, w. Va, each
carrier would have to take tito his
patron in turn until the right John
Smith was located This would
involve about weeks lost time,
and several John Smiths would
know some thing about one Ohm
Smiths business. This lost time
would have been saved and incon-
venience avoided if the street and
mum Der or the rural route number
had been placed on the letter.
'.Another phase of bad address
ses is abbreviations. The abbre-
viations for various states are
quite similar, and when written in
long hand are often confused and
mistaken for one another For
instance, the authorizations for
are Pa and Penn,
and unless it is written very plain
.ly the Pa. would be taken for the
Ga. of Georgia, the La Of Louis
lana, or. the Va OF Virginia, and
the Penn could easily be taken for
the Tenn of Tennessee especially
If the p in Pennsis made with a
large loop or the loop.is not COM
pletely closed.
New York State, with its abb
breviation of N. Wis often taken
for the N. u, of5NeW3 jersey OF the
Ky Of Kentucky. The abbrevia-
tons Mo. for Missouri. Me. for
Maine, Md. for Maryland, MINI.
for Minnesota, Miss for Mississip-
vi, Cal. for California and Col. for
Colorado are also, confusing. and
much of the nlis-sent mail IS
caused by the authorizations of
such states as these.
VA Poor Penmanship
Another important factor is
poor penmanship. Many letters
are put in the mails every dayathat
cause a large amount of lost time,
because every employe handling It
must stop, and take a second look
at it in order to. tell whether it is.
intended for Warrington OF Ear,
mington, Clarksburg Or Parkers-
burg, New York G ity, n. y or
Newport, Ky, Charleston, w. Va,
or Charles Town, Va. OF
whether It's for 2Chas. Johnson or
James Jones, or for Miss Marie,
wilkins OF M IS M dTy#tff S1lSou.s.f
Fancy penmanshipss should be
avoided at all times. t takes
longer sometimes to read Is fancily
addressed enyelo pe than 1T does to
read one that it misspelle All
that is needed is a,spl lain clear
hand sthat>a clerk can read as fast
as his hands can handle the let
ters, or the carrier can read as he
steps onto your porch
55''Typewritten and printed ad-
dresses Pc the easiest to read and
should be used whenever it is
5possible to do SO. Please consider
that postofice clerks are handling
your. letters under artificial light,
railway postal clerks are working
them in poorly lighted. swaying,
jostling cars, and the carriers are
delivering them in all kinds Of
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