Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-09
The HQSkin Letter 81 ' : =:4a
THE DEAD LETTER SALE


Washington, Oct. 6.--Attending dead
letter sales is popular sport in his city.
A local auction house was crowded to
the doors a few days ago when the gov
eminent put up at auction an accumu-
lation of several months unclaimed and
unavailable parcel post matter.
Some people have an idea that a
dead letter sale is conducted along lot
terry lines. A glimpse into the auction
room would bear out this impression.
No goods are in sight. The auctioneer,
high above the crowd is rafting off as
fast as he q n
Lot number twelve-at five dollars,
at five dollars, six dollars, at seven dol
lars, yours for seven dollars, Mr..
Brown"
Then, without a pause for breath, the
auctioneer is Keeling off the next num-
Der and calling for bids. The bidders
in the crowd are closely following the
sale by their catalogues, but these give
only the most general description OF
each lot of goods. Apparently they
are buying in the dark.
This is not the case, however. The
day before the sale the articles to be
sold were on display. Long rows s'of
packing boxes with aisles between them
ranged the length of the auction room.
Each box contained one lot of goods.
singly at these sales when a large
amount of goods is to be auctioned.
One great wooden box labeled "ci-
CARS, tobacco and snuff" was filled to
the brim with cigar boxes, packages of
cigarets, loose, silver wrapped cigars.
tobacco bags, and cans. In each of
three boxes there were 10 to II suit
cases. The cases had probably been
mailed packed with articles and had
missed delivery by wrong or insuffi-
cient address. Now they were being
sold empty. Most of them were old
and travel-worn. -.
Ten mems suits damaged filled an
other box. Others contained such col
lections as 1.-TWO automobile robes,
damaged" Golf outfit, clubs, case,
balls, etc.; Fifty pairs eyeglasses,
damaged; and 400 miscellaneous
handkerchiefs."
Comparatively few persons would
care to buy 400 handkerchiefs for per-
sonal use. eyen at a bargain price of
say ten dollars. Such foresightedness
would be extreme. Housewives were
poking around among the boxes, how
ever, seeming out desirable collections
Of kitchenware, blankets and ribbons.
Merchants Inspect Goods
Many visitors wandered around the
show room merely through curiosity.
The majority of persons inspecting the
stock with business like thoroughness
were dealers. Here and there a man
could be seen diving into a box and
holding up a pair of trousers or a
ratty looking fur piece TO inspect 1t
with an experienced eye. The entire
contents of the box would be subjected
to close scrutiny, after which the
shrewd dealer would mark on his cata-
log the limit that he would bid on that
particular lot.
Hundreds of people passed through
the auction room selecting bargains to
be bid for next day. When the sale
opened in tbs morning, therefore. 1t
proceeded with a snap. The 235 boxed
lots of more or less bulky merchandise,
% lots of tires. and GO lots of jewelry
and small articles sold in three hours.
The bidder who did not signal his raise
the instant the last price was named
found himself out Of competition.
This is a description of a more or
less typical dead letter sale. 1t is given
in some detail because few persons out
side of the cities where the sales are
held have an opportunity to attend
these interesting government functions.
There is no little misunderstanding
! regarding the so-called dead letter
sales. This name has become popularity
attached to them because all undellvera-
bic mail is handled by a division Of dead
: letters. and this division conducts the
sales. The term dead letter sale is
misleading. though. because it suggests
that undelivered letters are put up for
I the public to buy, and this is far from
the truth. Every year the postoffices
) of the country handle millions of let
tiers that cannot be delivered but the
government does not sell any OF them
Every effort is made to deliver each
= letter entrusted TO the postal service,
:. If a letter cannot reach the person adj
dressed, and the sender's name and adj
, dress are not in the upper left hand
corner. the letter is finally opened.
If money or enclosures of value are
: found and any address given in the
letter, the postoffice department for.
wards the letter and its contents
> Money that cannot be delivered goes tC
E swell the governments revenues. Let
ters containing no valuables or money
are burned without further attempt al
: locating the persons concerned. Sc
there is never a dead letter sale, liter
ally speaking. The government officially
puts on the market ARTICLES accumu
: lated in the division of dead letters
and most of these are parcel post mat
ter.
: Why Mail Goes Wrong
: Mail finds its way into the dead let
q ter office largely by the carelessness o.
!. the public. Wrong or incomplete ad
dresses are given. The addressee ha'
t moved without leaving information Al
, dress on a package is robbed off, OF
= dress on a package is rubbed off. o.
torn off, or otherwise obliterated II
= transit. Addresses written in penci
= are particularly apt to smudge beyont
recognition in ordinary handling. While
an address written in ink at a pos
office desk and dropped into the boz
~unblotted may not only be smeared int
~nothingness itself. but mail it touches
may be so defaced as to be .undeliver
able. Hundreds of people send off mai
: to impossible addresses. Sometimes
= they write the correct name and stree
number and then absently add Local
or the name of their own town instea'
=, of giving the city in which the ad
dressee lives.
All of these accidents and any mum
Der Of others may happen to a package
or letter. That they do happen !
proved by the 19,6S3,259 letters an'
. 1859 packages of parcel post matte
Il than were opened in the dead lette
- eory;ca in the last fiscal vear