The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-08-04
STAMP SALES
AFFECT OFFICE
Rating of Postmaster and Allow
ance for Clerk Hire Based on
! Local Receipts.
SYSTEM COMPLETE CHECK

DlQS post OI1CtS anu uAHS t1E IdillS
and salaries of postmasters and al
lowance for clerk hire, the revenue OF
local offices from sales OF stamps reg
ulates these amounts. Being some
what misunderstood generally, this
matter is fully explained in the last
issue of the Postal Bulletin, in an
article written by w. Irving Glover.
Third Assistant Postmaster General.
The article is so applicable to condi-
lions existing in Pleasantville, that
we are reprinting it in its entirety.
The Third Assistant has the following
to say on the subject:
"'What possible difference can it
make if postage stamps are purchased
at an Office other han the one from
which the letters or parcels are mail
ed-the money all goes to the Gov
eminent.
THAT is the question and the nat
ural one, together with the suggested
answer thar is raised by business men
when approached by a local postmas-
ter with a request that he be allowed
t. furnish them with stamps necessa-
ry to cover mailings from his Office.
1T makes a lot OF difference, and
the Post Office Department stands
ready to lend its moral support to the
postmaster in his efforts TO induce
heavy mailers to purchase stamps at
the point OF dispatch.
I'm fact, It is the one obstacle in
the way of complete success OF the
present method OF rating postmasters
of the first. second, and third class;j
and for fixing their salaries.
THE method is fixed by law and
can not be changed or modified by the
department. Not only are the sala-
ries of postmasters determined by the
amoun of revenue produced by their
offices, but the allowance for clerk
hire. as we'll as other expenses, is
based upon receipts and not on the
quantity OF work performed.
1.-THE system operates as a check
and balance, preventing the employ
ment of unnecessary help when a par
ticular ofice is on the decline and, on
the other hand, automatically disclos-
ing the need for additional clerks and
carriers when increased business pro-
| duces increased revenue
ssThis 1exibflity renders the system
of great value in preventing an excess
of employees and in maintaining the
service machinery at a standard OF
efficiency commensurate with require
ments for handling the mails. IL Is
deemed far better than any previous
scheme for rating postmasters and TX
ing allowances for clerk hire, and
since it's operation nc plan considered
, superior has been suggested,
HThere are, however, a considerable
number of firms, principally large cor
porations maintaining branch offices
in various cities, who make a practice
of purchasing stamps in large quantl-
ties at the headquarters office and dol
ing them out to their local branches
on requisition.
.When a large quantity of this mail
is dumped into the local post office,
especially one of the smaller offices,
the result is a decentralization OF great
er or less extent, depending upon the
quantity OF mail.
at is ineauitable to the postmaster,
whose salary might have been increas-
ed had the stamps been purchased al
his Office. and it is unfair to the clerks
and other employees who must handle
the additional mail without being
credited toward increased allowance
for clerk hire.
But. above all, it is unfair to~the
regular patrons of the office whose
mail. of necessity, must be delayed by
an influx of entirely unexpected mat
| Ter, unless the postmaster or the
clerks, actuated by wholly human
emotions. hold up the offending for
eign mail until the other mail has
been dispatched.
Usually a firm is willing TO co-ope-
rate rather than incur the ill will OF
postal clerks, especially when the i'm
/ portance of maintaining the system OF
rating postmasters and determining
clerk-hire allowance is explained to
them.
Some firms, however, have beer
reluctant to make the change. Ihey
advance the argument that it is pref
cradle to purchase stamps at the main
office so that they may be perforated
with the firms initials to render them
less marketable by dishonest employ
ees.
1.-THE department answers. this argu-
ment by pointing out that other firms
have solved the problem by instruct
ing their agents or dealers, when max
ing their regular remittances to the
home office, to render a certain pro-
portion of the amount in postage
stamps. The stamps then are perfo-
rated and returned to the branc Of
fee for use on the company's mail.
$50 important does the department
consider the maintenance OF its rating
system, and so concerned is it that its
employees be not required to work
for nothing that frequently represen-
t~atives, are sent to interview firms not
conversant with the necessity for the
request, with a view to inducing them
to make a change in their method OF
purchasing stamps. Not a single firm
has yet declined to cooperate after
having had the departments problem
explained to them.
dThe department feels justified in
asking this cooperation, particularly
in view of the fact that postage rates
have not been increased for years"