Mountains of Mail

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 234, 22 December 1927, Page 18

Mountains of Mail

i I OFFICIALS AT THE POST OFFICE WORK LONG I HOURS TO CLEAR CHRISTMAS RUSH

EFFECT OF “POST EARLY” Mountain* of mail are moved each day by the staff of the Auckland Post Office. "Post Early” has had its effect. TT'ROM Saturday until this morning ” letters and parcels have streamed into the posting boxes, and trains from the South have carried huge cargoes of Christmas gifts, Christmas wishes and other seasonable cheer. There will be no relief until Saturday. The week-end was a record. On Monday and Tuesday over 3,000 hags of mail were dispatched from Auckland and 2,800 bags were received. This morning, in addition to the ordinary large mail, 580 bags arrived from San Francisco, via Wellington. Yesterday 50 bags arrived from Taranaki on the Ngapuhl. The whole of the Post Office mailroom staff is working from 7 o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock at night. Usually the first shift works from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m., when the second shift takes over until clearing time, usually 10 p.m. There is silence for only two hours in the mailroom, as a night shift works from midnight until 7 a.m. An indication of the number of letters which are being sent away from Auckland can be gained from the fact that last night the night shift put through 24,000. Usually the number is somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000.

Six boys have been specially engaged to clear the big wicker hampers which are placed under the posting boxes, and to arrange the letters for the stamping machines. Although the mail has been very heavy, it is not expected that the lastminute rush will be as great as in other years. People have realised that to post early relieves the postal officials of almost superhuman work on Christmas Eve. Last year several mailboats arrived from overseas and added to the discomfort of sorters and carriers, but this year the boats all went to Wellington.