Evening star., 1952-04-22

master Gordon Bell. Most, he
says, are actually unfounded.
Three men keep busy in the
offices inquiry section looking
into complaints and queries. But
often the sender himself proves at
fault. Some times the letter
wasn't mailed.
II think we're doing a better
distribution job than ever before,
said Mr.. Bell.
Postmaster General Donaldson,
too, says the District Post Office
has good standing.
But there are problems.
The main Post Office is crowded
It's marble lobby looks palatial
But in back, said the Postmaster
it's bursting its seams.
There is a personnel problem.
Sorters, say the oldtimers, used
to average 40 letters per minute
Now it's down to %.
Many workers are part-time
All new ones hired are temporary
no new permanent appointments
currently are permitted by Con-
greSs. This cuts incentive.
And the Post Offices peak hour.
are at night. Hard hours anc
modest pay give postal jobs 6
competitive drawback.
26 Per Cent Turnover.
The result is high turnover. Fol
the last two years, it has been q
Iper cent. This is serious. becaus'
it takes a year and a half for s
clerk to become efficient.
Clerks must pass examinations
And they are re-examined annu
ally and more often when the,
make many errors. Many, Off
cially. is extremely few. Only 2.
per cent will be tolerated on test
and less in actual operation. An
the actual errors, compared witt
mail volume. are very few, Off
cials say.
But nobody pretends they don
occur. A dozen letters may ge
lost in supposedly empty" sack
in a day. Some get missorted-
it's inevitable. And carriers some
times misdeliver, or fail to forwart
correctly.
Rasmus Hansen, veteran as
sistant mail superintendent, tell
one tale of error. An airmail let
ter, still uncanceled, was foun'
in a mail bag just back from tn
repair shop. The letter wa
stitched in where a hole had beel
mended.
But the Post Office isn't alway
to blame. More than 5000 letter
daily have to be set aside and sort
ed through because they haven
been properly addressed. Sevel
men spend their time trying t.
correct them. If they fail, the,
send them back again. They don
correct many.
Letters UnStamped.
This reporter saw a bundle o
so letters collected over an hou
and a half-all without stamps
Another had a Canadian 2-cente
and United States 1-center.
; was delivered with an additiona
Sticker-2 cents postage due.
The Post Office calls misdirecte,
mystery items "Nixies" (origil
and exact meaning unknown
They range from post cards will
no city listed to boxes of lost bah,
chicks. Undisposed of chicks ar
sold. in accordance with regula
tions. Next stop, except for chicks
Dead Letter Office.
! True, the Post Office used t.
give directory service on much i'll
addressed mail, and this served
useful purpose. It isn't done now
But Postmaster North says he
only heard one complaint abou
the abandonment in three year
as postmaster.
After all, in most such cases tn
senders really have only them
selves to blame.
Sometimes. by contrast, the Pos
Office will go far out of its wa
to help. If asked politely, it vii
help STOP a letter when tn
sender so wishes-provided tn
citizen pays the cost of a telegram
The rule is that the sender con
trolls his missive until actual de
livery.
Saved Embarrassment.
Many have been saved EN-
barrassment that way.
And the postmaster Is alway.
glad to cooperate in domestic
emergencies, as the case last weel
when a little girl dropped some
family funds into a mailbox. A
messenger had them out within
half an hour and safely back ir
parental hands.
Washington's Post Office han
dies a tremendous amount of mail
including that of two special
w. I. P. cuStomers-the man at
1900 Pennsylvania avenue and
Congress. Most gets through, says
the postmaster.
In the midst of all this. has the
saving from 1850 service cuts really
been worthwhile? Despite the fact
that the Washington Office is
Iprofit-making 1881 expenses
$17.7 million; receipts, $22 mil
lionD, spokesmen say yes. Mr.
North's guess is in the neighbor-
hood Of $4,000 a year.
- r. "a