New Britain herald., 1923-12-18
CHRISTMAS MAIL . AND ITS TROUBLES
Public Little Realizes What |
 Means to Postal Attaches

Christmas IS coming. me Neeh ol
 joyful shopping and planning for
 most people, and hard work for store
 clerks and postal employes has be-
 gun. At the New Britain post office
 men are rolling up their sleeves and
 preparing to tackle the annual strenu-
 ous week with their usual dispatch
 and efficiency.
 Beginning today. if conditions are
 found to warrant it, men at the post
 office will be required to work l2
 hours each day until Christmas, Ad-
 ditional men and teams will be put to
 work and packages will be handled
 as rapidly as possible. with the aid
 always in view of having every de- livery cleaned up by Christmas morn irg.
 But the post office attaches must
 have cooperation from the mailing
 public to accomplish this. Packages,
 according to James B. Grace, super
 intendent of mails. must be in the
 post office before 6 p. m. to be as
 sured of leaving the city the same day. | The last mail train out of the city leaves at o'clock and packages must i be sorted and otherwise routed in time 1 to catch this train. This means that i late packa ges will be held over until i the next morning.
 i Another req son why packages 1 should be mailed early is because the
 railroad officials will not permit trains to stop at a station more than their regular time. which is three minutes. Thus if there are 75 mail pouches from New Britain at the Berlin sta tion and only 50 can be loaded, tho train will proceed without the res maining 25. To be sure of going, mail should be in early and will be sent to Hartford which is New Brit aims official shipping point, where 1t will go directly into the mail car,
 Don't Bother Ihe Clerks
 Please ask the people not to come to the delivery windows and ask for mail which will be delivered by car rier," said Mir. Grace, "because it is absolutely impossible for us 10 &C., commodate them" Mir. Grace eN- plained how mail Is handled on three floors. On the main floor II is sorted by carriers only, the parcels going to the basement and the first class mali going to the mezzaninc floor Here the carriers must sort it by streets. Clerks on the first floor are unable to tell whether Mrs. Doc has letter ad- dressed to her on Morning Glory Ave. or not neither can they tell whether jifn Crows package of cigars from Nick o'Tyne's tobacco shop in New York arrived or not Nor can we give information or this kind to those who call by telephone" he said.
 Answer Bclis prjmpil,
 Mail will be delivered as promptly as We can get it out" he said An- . other thing which the postal depart. ment feels is a decided lHck Of CO., operation and which helps to slow up the system is the delay On the part ! or some people in answering door bells when the special delivery carrier comes 10 the door. Sometimes the carrier must wait as long as i've min utes for an answer
 Carriers are allowed only eight cents per letter for their services and if they must spend five minutes at each door. besides the time required be- tween delivery places. 1t makes their days earnings SO small that 1t Is dif- Bcut 10 obtain special delivery boys and again the service is crippled.
 Only eight cents Is paid to q boy who takes a letter as far away as Besidcre, although the same boy earns the same amount ol money 1T his letter simply goes across the street Three special delivery carriers are on this basis and out Of the eight cents they receive per letter they must furnish their own cars Car iif rs have reported to the post office that when they protest being com- pelled 10 wait five minutes or nor. |. for someone to answer the bell. they are told. That's what you arc getting paid for" Mir Grace says they are not getting paid for waiting on front porchcs, but for delivering the lct- ters"
 According to government rtguia- tions DO special delivery letters or packages can be delivered between II : o'clock al night and : o'clock in the morning. l. the carriers start out at : o'clock in the morning it IS an even chance that they will bring back about half their letters, because ol people not being home. or On bed. or because for some reason they are unable to get someone to the door. Then they . must wait until their next trip out. which % delays the iettef or psckagt that the regular mai man often has : passed the place Hrs. Taus the spc- .tal man is last to zsI lis letter or Dackage delivered and azaiH th, post office is delug,d with [. lrpu0ae com ! llainte