Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1925-06-06
Millions OF Letters
And Parcels Go To
Dead Letter Office
Poor Packing And Improper
Addresses Responsible For
Yearly Waste.

While it is generally accepted tina
this is not the age of miracles, never
theless, there are thousands of pa
irons of the the United States mail:
who take it for granted that Uncle
Sam has many wonder-workers or
his payroll.
The fact that there are wizards ir
the employ of the Post Office Depart.
ment-men and women who are un.
canny, to say the least, in decipherine
illegib,e handwriting has caused nc
end of trouble and expense to the gov
eminent as we'll as to the taxpayer
along with inconvenience in the re-
ceipt and delivery of mail matter.
Yet, with all this expert handling
and careful study of handwriting on
the part of the postal clerks the an
nual revenue from dead mail matter
received by the government amounts
to approximately 100000.
Last year the Dead Letter Office
received $4,000 from the sale of or
phaned packages which could neither
be forwarded to the addresses nor
returned to the senders because of in
adequate addresses. The same office
turned into the United States Treas
ury $55, 523.96 in cash removed from
nljsdirected letters or found loose in
the mails.
Postage stamps were taken from
letters or found loose in the mails
having value of S12,165.67, almost
double the entire revenue of the pos
tai service in 1889.
Three cent fees collected for the re-
turn to senders of letters which could
not be delivered totaled $92,0O7.54.
But this is not half the story.
Checks, drafts and money orders,
whose owners could not be located,
and amounting to S3,546,542.54 finally
found resting place in the Dead Let
ter office.
For want of correct or complete
addresses 100000 letters were de-
posted in the Dead Letter office, not
to speak Of 100000 parcels which had
been improperly addressed or wrap
PED.
Strange to say, this depositing of
letters and packages in the mails with
incomplete, inadequate or incorrect
addresses and wrapping comes, in q
large majority Of cases, from those
patrons who are the most liberal con-
tributors to this branch of the United
States government.
It has been estimated by postal Of
ficials that 200,0OO,OOO pieces of mail
are given "directory service" every
year, which means that employees
must take time from the regular hand
ling and dispatching of mail in the
endeavor to provide correct addresses
for this huge volume of misdirected
matter. In New York City, alone,
the cost of this service approximates
$500 every day in the year and the
total amount through the country is
stupendous.
While the revenue from the Dead
Letter office is sufficient to keep that
branch of the postal service function
ing it is not nearly enough to pay the
annual support of the "Nixie."
A "Nixie" is a letter or parcel so
improperly addressed that it can
neither be delivered to the addressee
nor returned to the sender without
special treatment. This special costs
the Post Office Department or the
tax payer in the final analysis, ap-
proximately s1,74O,OOO every year.
In order to lift this tremendous bur-
der from the shoulders of the Post
Office Department and on the peck
etbook of the American people, the
first week in June has been set aside
by Postmaster General New as "Bet-
ter Mailing Week." An active, nation
wide campaign will be conducted dur
ing that period for the purpose of
impressing on the mailer the neces-
sity from every viewpoint of using
more care in the addressing of his
mail, not only letters but parcels as
we'll.