STUDIES IN ERRORS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19979, 3 July 1939, Page 7

STUDIES IN ERRORS

DEAD LETTER OFFICE STEADY AVERAGE A study of last year’s work m the dead letter section of the General I os.. Office suggests that, when such largescale cpcraticus enable soundly ;oasec averages to be determined, the level of human carelessness in dealing with correspondence maintains itseli wan remarkable steadiness. In 1938, the undelivered letters constituted a very small fraction, namely, 038 per cent. The most interesting point about this final figure is not only its smallness but the fact that if the position for the previous year is examined in the same way the .proportion of undelivered letters comes out to •nearly the same decimal fraction. Obviously the same people would not repeat the sarnie mistakes year after year, yet when another phase of activity is examined it is found that the number of letters and other articles returned to the senders .n New Zealand last year—a total of 917,117 varied from the 1937 figures only to the extent of being 1413 .fewer. There were 518,570 letters returned to senders in New Zealand after the Post Office 'had failed to find the right recipient at the address given. In 10.696 of these cases registered letters were concerned. The inclusion in postal packets of sufficient information to enable them to be returned to the sender if delivery cannot be made is a precaution, advised by the Post Office.