New Britain herald., 1926-12-28
PUBLIC PRAISED
 BY P. 0. WORKERS
Made It Possible To Clear All
 Christmas Mail

Cooperation on the part of the public and teamwork by employees of the postal department were re- sponsible for the unprecedented records made by the local post office, according to statements made today by department heads at the post office. .....
 The postal clerks and carriers are breathing easier today after stren- uous week, when all records for volume, speed and efficiency were broken.
 Probably the man who has as good an idea of the amount of mail handled from December 20 to 24 is Edward McAloon, whose trucks transport all mail sacks between the post office and the railway sta- tion. Mir. McAloon has been doing this work for 14 years and has just gone through his 18th consecutive Christmas in the postal service without ever having missed mail train. Six years ago, when The Herald said he had gone eight years without missing a mail, 1t was said to be & unique record. It is even more remarkable now.
 Heaviest Mail Ever
 This years mail was the heavi- est I have ever seen," MT. McAloon said. adding that in the five days he had handled more than 7,5o0 sacks. In addition to this 7,50O sacks and pouches handled between the railroad and the post office, Mr. McAloon personally handled hun dreds of sacks between the general post office and the parcel post station.
 The public helped" said Assist ant Postmaster Edward H. Munson, "by spreading oL the mailing of Christmas cards and parcels over more days and not trying to jam it into one day. It gave us a better opportunity to handle the mail. In the registry room mail was moved through so rapidly that I don't be- lieve there were more than 50 pack ages there at any one time. Two clerks kept writing up insured pack ages as fast as they came in.
 Another thing which aided was the fact that most of our extra help had worked last year and had some idea of what to do. This expedited matters some.
 True we had the usual mess of nisdirected cards and letters this year. These always help delay things. For instance we had one letter arrive directed to Mir. John Blank Fictitious name) New Britain. The directory gave us q different men with that name. Another let ter was addressed to Mrs. ----. Stanley street. Stanley street is served by nine different mail men; if each man had that letter for one day trying to find the woman, 1t would take nine days to deliver it."
 Delays in handling of postal ma terial are caused by thoughtless peo- pie, in many cases, according to Jo- seph Grace, who has been in the post office 20 years and who has charge Of the stamp windows.
 People who only come to the post office to mail pacages once q year, cause a lot of trouble,' he add ed "They bring their packages in poorly wrapped and tied with a sin- gle string, and wonder why we don't want to accept them. Otter we have to turn them back and in- struct them to get them wrapped and packed more securely"
 Holding Up the Line
 Congestion in the lobby was kept down this year by the fact that q large number of people bought stamps in advance, according to Mir. Grace. One of the greatest nui- sances the postal clerks have to con- tend with in a rush is the woman who comes to the window, makes her purchase, received the stamps, and then begins to tumble in a hand bag for a small purse.
 According to MT. Grace she opens the .aige bag, takes out the purse, closes the bag, opens the purse takes out her money, closes the purse. opens the bag, puts in the purse and closes the bag. Then if she has any change coming she goes through the whole performance causing a distinct loss of three or four minutes wtile she fumbes