Evening star., 1938-01-30
By Eugene Guild.

~ HE holiday season Is receding
into memory. That is. all ex-
cept the bills, which are
L painful reality and very much
with us. But the Christmas tree is in
the ash can or reposing on nearby
vacant lot; the decorations have been
packed away for use next winter, and
the greeting cards that we thought we
would save have surreptitiously found
perhaps We have time to give
thought to that unsung hero Of the
Christmas rush-the postman.
OF course, We got our mail and
gifts on time-including the smashed
package from the folks out West and
the card that Aunt Emma forgot to
put any address on. We marveled at
the smoothness and efficiency with
which it was all done, at the special
deliveries and the extra force at the
parcel-post windows. We didn't see
much of our own carrier, but we pic
tured him tramping the streets all
day long. bowed under the weight of
enormous packages of mail, and
thought vaguely that it must be awful
for him to be on his feet from morn
ing to night, in the cold rain, making
all those deliveries.
That's where we were wrong. The
postman was on his feet all right, but
not out in the open. He didn't de-
liver nearly as much mail as he does
in normal periods. Most of those fire.
quent deliveries that brought our
Christmas mail to us so promptly were
made by substitutes. What did our
regular carrier do with his time? Well,
during most of the l6 hours day that
he worked he was down at the post
Office routing up"
To understand what routing up is
you have to understand something
about how postman goes about his
job. During most of the year he re-
ports at the post Office for duty at 6
am, when the rest of US are turning
over for the last hour or two of Sleep
The first thing he does is to make
. pull" That is, he goes to booth
where the mail for his route has
been filed by the sorting clerks dur
ing the night, takes the mail out and
brings it to his desk.
THIS desk is simply a table with
row of shelves at the back Of it.
There are five shelves. and about 40
w1ckets in each shelf, each one a pig
eonhole an inch or so across. If the
route is a residential one, each wicket
Is assigned to two adjoining houses,
and the street numbers are typed on a
slip OF paper pasted below the wicket.
The carrier sorts out the mail and puts
each piece in the proper wicket for
its address. Then he ties it up in
convenient bundles, say 20 addresses
in bundle. so that it can be handled
easily when he is making delivery.
That's what routing up" is. Bill
Jones, the man on our route, is one
Of the 108 regular carriers operating
out Of the city Post Office: and it is
quite sight to see him and the other
107 at work in the vast mailroom be-
tween 6 and Z o'clock in the morning.
At minutes to Z bell clangs.
That's a signal to make another pull"
Of the batch of mail that has been
sorted out by the mail Clerks during
the last hour. Five minutes later there
Is another bell. the signal to start
tying down"-that is, to get the bun
dies tied and in order. At z Is there
is another bell, warning to step on
1t, and at 7:20 fourth and last bell
is signal to get out and on the
trucks.
Bill Jones doesn't ride to his first
delivery on the street car. unless he
Is late or has an unusual rush of work.
He is taken to the starting point of his
route by truck. He arrives there
around 1880, and spends the next three
or four hours making deliveries. After
that he has lunch, goes back to the
Post Office and routes up the mail
for the second delivery, which he
makes in the afternoon. He is usually
through for the day by pm. or 4
at the latest.
On Saturday Bill works about six
and half hours. Tuesday he has
most of the day off, his deliveries being
made by utility man." but he has
to 60 to the Post Office at and spend
an hour and half routing UP the
mail for his "pardner," who is a carrier
on an adjoining route. Most Sundays
he has to work for an hour or two
getting the mail ready for the Monday
morning delivery. One Sunday in
eight he has the whole day free.
HAT is the regular schedule that
Bill follows most Of the year. But
when the post office swings into action
Tor the Christmas rush it's something
else again. Beginning about four days
before Christmas, he reports for work
ut am. and spends the next three
or four hours routing up, with few
minutes intermission for breakfast.
When the vickets in his desk get full
OF mail he ties it down in bundles
and starts all over again. for a special
force is detailed to pull the mail for
him. These bundles are numbered
with a penciled notation on the first
envelope in the bundle, and are taken
to another room where they are placed
IN sacks fer delivery by the substitute
carriers. During the rush many car
riers have five or six substitutes work.
Ing their routes at one time.
About am. Bill makes q delivery,
OF the registered and postage-due mail,
newspapers and magazines, and mail
for lock boxes of which he alone is
allowed to carry the key. This has the
D6Vanfaoo 0f ooffi,,r hi,,, o,,< 49,