Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-10-22
CARELESSNESS IN
ADDRESSING MAIL
GREAT COST TO US

SdreleSSneSS IN ADDRESSING mali
costs Uncle Sam, thousands Of dol
lars every year and yet the average
person in ADDRESSING his or her let
ture and throws the mail into the
postoffice, without taking time to
place a return address on the en-
velope. or looking to see If the adj
dress Is written correctly. The let
tiers, II addressed properly. 60 to
their owners, but a large number of
them will be unclaimed at the post
office and will have to be sent to the
dead letter Office for inspection. after
they have laid seven days in the box
for unclaimed mail at the local office.
There are now four dead letter Of
fees in the United States. These
are situated in New York, Chicago,
San Francisco and Washington. D.
c. All unclaimed mail from the New
England States and Northern Allan
tic States is sent to the Office in New
York City.
Edgar J. Brown. postma ster in this
city, states. that on the average over
so letters are sent each week to New
York City from Waterville. to be
opened and inspected. Officials in
the dead letter office use every pos
sible means to locate the sender of
the letter. First 1t is opened and
read. II there is any signature at
all. that would be clue as to who
the sender is. the letter is returned
under cover to the local postoffice,
and search Immediately begins for
the person who mailed it. If, how
ever. there is no signature or the
letter is worthless, it is destroyed
after short period OF time. Any
m In Lot
OF which cannot be located, is turn
ed over to the u. S. Treasury at
Washington, d. c. and is credited to
the postoflice department.
The dead letter offices are busy
departments in the Civil Service. In
the New York Office alone, 10000 let
ters are received on the average, per
day, and every one must have indiv-
1dual attention were it not for the
care taken in city postoffices, how
ever, the work of the dead letter Of
flee would be multiplied many times
and Uncle Sam would be likely to
have serious congestion in this de-
partment Of his service. In the Wat
erville postoffice. about so letters
have to be re-addressed every day
and receive individual attention, be-
cause of the lack of care on the part
of the sender in addressing his mail.
Every afternoon in the city postoffice
here. some clerk who is familiar with
Waterville people, spends two or
three hours of hard work, inspecting
the addresses of certain letters
which the mail clerk is undetermin-
ed as to where to send.
The principle trouble with the av-
erage unclaimed letter, is the lack of
any address. Postmaster Brown re-
lates of an instance where a lady
thought that she sent money order
to mail order concern in some out
of state city, and receiving no reply
to her order, she wrote the concern,
, demanding an explanation. She re-
ceived an answer that no order had
been received. When she called on
Postmaster Brown to have the letter
traced he asked her If she had adj
dressed the letter carefully and put
a return address on the envelope.
She was very positive that she had
taken this precaution. but the next
day, Mr.. Brown received n letter from
the dead letter Office in New York
City, which was sent by this woman.
The envelope in which she sent the
order had not even been ADDRESSED at
all.
There are many instances similar
to this one. and many times the
Senders are not so fortunate in get
ting their mail back. At any rate no
limit of effort Is spared on the part
of the department to trace the right
owner and the success which they
have in many cases, is of great
credit to them,