New Record Hung Up at Post Office

The Marietta Daily Times, Tuesday, December 23, 1924

Fifty Thousand Letters and Cards Cancelled on Monday.

Receive Nearly 2,000 Parcels.

Fourteen Truck Loads of Packages Delivered in City.

Fifty thousand letters and cards were sent through the cancelling machine at the post office on Monday, which was in all respects the largest single day the Marietta office has ever had. This new record for the number of letters and cards stamped makes the previous high record of 38,100 hung up during the Christmas rush of 1923, seem like the usual Monday rush.

Thirty-nine employees at the Marietta office and eight rural carriers working out of this office were pushed to the limit on Monday.

Parcel post packages to the number 18,025 were delivered. In addition, 150 C.O.D. packages were delivered and the money collected. It took 14 large truckloads to get out the parcels on Monday afternoon and the boys and men handling this mail were kept on the jump.

Postmen starting on their regular routes from the office had all the appearance of so many Santa Clauses except they were minus grey whiskers and red and white uniforms. Their pouches were loaded to the guards and they were backed up and forced to make several trips.

The large work room is the scene of intense activity. The parcel post packages were piled half way to the ceiling during the morning, letters and cards were packed here and there in masses and the clerks were working swiftly to again see light.

During the morning the letters and cards were coming through the slots so fast that it was necessary to keep two men at the counter in order to sort them. The stamp cancelling machine was kept running at capacity for a time, but because it takes longer to sort and place them to cancel, the machine was never going at its best.

Post office officials stated that it is impossible to tell yet just what the receipts for Monday were, but it is evident that they were larger than they had ever been before.

Tuesday started out like another record breaker. The indications are that this will be another big day and may surpass Monday.

While everything was being handled in an orderly and systematic manner, a good way to cause a riot on Tuesday morning would have been to stick your head in a door leading to the large work room and yell a "Merry Christmas."