P.O. BOXES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3042, 31 March 1917, Page 8

P.O. BOXES

A WARNING TO HOLDERS. The public may bo under the impression that tho bird-cage arrangement at the General Post Office, which contains the boxes of subscribers, are am economical aid to tho Department. If so, it should be made quite clear that . they arp not a- help, but rather a hindrance, aud the system (which does not obtain at Home) is a convenience to the busiuess public. Tho trouble with the privato boxes as far as the staff is concerned is of varying character. It 'may be that there arc two or more partners in a firm, which only bears name of one, and sometimes not of one, but each ono expects his correspondence to be placed in the box. Then Mr. "W. Jones" might take a box, and correspondence for half a dozen "W. Jones's" might pass through the office, merely with the ' word Wellington as an address. Then again firms with a number of agencies might wish the correspondence for one branch of the business"-only delivered into the box, and the rest delivered by hand. To realise the difficulties of sorting letters into over 900 Doxes, one only has to visit the sorting-room be- | hind the boxes, and read the polyglot instructions that are dab.bed over ttio ■ boxes, all of which instructions "the j sorter has to remember or take note of at the time. In ordinary times, with a fairly stable staff of capable sorters, the task was not an easy one, but now, when now hands (including girls) have to bo broken in (young people who do : not even know the names of the principal firms in the city as does the man in the street), the difficulties of the i task are magnified tremendously. So ■ much so that the situation has resolved itself into a problem that the Department is determined -to solve. 1 To that end the Secretary (Mr. W. R. Morris) has advised box-holders that from June 1 next, owing to the i many staff changes caused by the i exigencies of the war, the Post Office : will be unable to guarantee tho delivery into private boxes; of correspondence i unless the number of the box is ini eluded in the address. This 'is tho i direct hint for firms to advise their ; clients to use the box number in tlio • .address. If they fail to do that, aud i the difficulties continue, it will pro- • bably come to the removal of all :■ names'of firms from the inside end of the boxes, and substituting a plain i number, in order that-only that corresl pondence bearing the'number of tho I P.O. box shall be placed in the box. ; Such an arrangement 'would greatly ; facilitate, the sorting, particularly now ■ that girls, new to the work altogether, ■ are being employed.