Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 01 (of 10)

by American School of Correspondence

OPENING AND DISTRIBUTING MAIL

Opening Mail. Incoming mail should invariably be delivered to one desk in charge of a clerk, usually known as the incoming-mail clerk. When a business has reached a position where a large correspondence is handled, it is poor business policy for an executive to assume the task of opening the mail. The natural conclusion, when a house has a large correspondence, is that its business is correspondingly large, and the executive who is fitted for his position can devote his energies to larger tasks with better results. He should be free to look after the big things—to plan greater results for his business or his department.

The argument has been advanced that it might be dangerous to trust a clerk with such business secrets as are found in the correspondence, but in the handling of business transactions practically every one of these "secrets" come to the knowledge of several clerks. Surely, if employes can be trusted with the cash and to keep the accounts—if stenographers can be trusted to take letters of the most confidential nature—a clerk can be trusted to open and distribute the mail.

Sorting Mail. Sorting the mail is the first duty of the incoming-mail clerk. This sorting is important in that all personal mail may be taken out before it is opened. A general rule among all large houses is to instruct all employes to have personal mail sent to their private or home addresses, but in spite of all precautions an occasional personal communication will come to the business address. An acquaintance may know that Smith works for Jones & Co. and, having forgotten his personal address, sends his letter in care of the house.

If Smith happens to be an unimportant employe, there will be no question about the communication being personal; but if he is a department head, there may be reasons for doubt. Large business organizations are divided into departments, each in charge of a manager. The correspondence of each department is signed by the head, over his official title. A reply may be addressed in the name of the house, to Smith, Sales Manager, or to Smith, without the title. The letter addressed to Smith, Sales Manager, belongs to the house, but if his title is omitted, it belongs to Smith, and to open it without permission is a violation of the law. When the departmental correspondence is heavy, a considerable number of letters addressed to the manager, but without his title, may be received, and it is the custom in many houses to secure written permission from department heads to open all such letters. This protects the clerk in case a personal letter is opened by mistake, and insures prompt attention to correspondence received during the absence of the department manager.

Distributing Incoming Mail. After the mail is opened, it should be carefully distributed. While it is not necessary to read every letter, the incoming-mail clerk should read as much of each letter as may be necessary to determine to what department it should go. Frequently, a letter addressed to one department refers to matters requiring the attention of another—a letter ordering goods may be addressed to the advertising manager, or a remittance to the sales department; or a letter may require the attention of more than one department.

In a large organization it is a very good plan to designate the departments and executives by numbers, that is, the president might be No. 1, the general manager, No. 2, the sales manager, No. 3, etc. When a letter requires the attention of two or more departments, these numbers should be placed on the letter in the order of their importance. On a letter containing a remittance and asking for a quotation, the sales manager's number would follow that of the cashier. Such letters are sent to the department whose number appears first, and the numbers indicate to the correspondent that the letter is to be referred to another department.

For distributing the mail, the clerk should be supplied with baskets labeled with the names or numbers of the departments. Mail can then be distributed quickly to the proper departments. If the number of baskets exceeds six, a rack should be provided for them at the side of the desk.

In some offices, the incoming-mail clerk makes a record of all orders received, before sending them to the sales or order department; in most concerns, however, this is done in the statistical department, after the orders have been passed upon. If the business is strictly cash and not too large, the statistical work can be done by the mail clerk.

Fig. 1 shows a tally sheet which is made up by the mail clerk for a small mail-order house. The sales of this house are divided by departments, each department representing a few specialties. While the business is essentially mail-order, a few agents are employed. On this sheet, columns are provided for a record of the articles sold by each department, the number and amount of cash and credit sales as a result of advertising, sales by salesmen divided in the same manner, total cash and credit sales, and the grand total. The cross-footings show the total sales of each article, while the column footings show the total sales, divided between advertising and salesmen, and whether cash or credit.

Fig. 1. Tally Sheet of Sales for Small Mail-Order House

AN EXTENSIVE EQUIPMENT OF CARD FILES IN THE OFFICE OF A LARGE CORPORATION. MANUFACTURED BY YAWMAN & ERBE MFG. CO., ROCHESTER, N.Y.

When the mail is sorted, all orders are placed together, and these are then sorted into the classes shown by the tally sheet. To prevent holding order, a memorandum tally should be made of each lot of mail handled, and the totals for the day entered on the sheet.

The tally sheet should be loose-leaf and made in manifold. A sufficient number of copies should be made to supply all department heads who have a direct interest in the volume of the day's business. Usually, copies will be required by the executives and the sales manager.

Departmental Distribution. The sorting and distribution of the mail, after it reaches the department for which it is intended, is also of considerable importance. And, in this sorting, the department manager's stenographer can render valuable assistance. For the same reason that the head of the house is relieved of details, the head of a department should strive to rid himself of tasks which can be as well performed by a subordinate.

Whether the mail is sorted by the correspondent or his stenographer, it should be gone through before an attempt is made to answer it. Letters that can be answered at once should be placed by themselves; those necessitating further information should be handled specially; if a letter requires the attention of another department, it should be answered immediately and passed on.

Under this plan, the mail is prepared for answer before a stenographer is called to take dictation, which saves time. The correspondent who does not plan his work calls a stenographer and starts dictating, taking the first letter that comes to hand. When a letter about which further information is needed is found, he sends to the files for correspondence, wasting both his own and his stenographer's time while waiting for the information.

Before any letters are answered, the necessary notations should be made on all letters requiring information, and the letters sent to the proper departments. The very first letters answered should be those that must be referred to another department. These should be not only dictated first, but transcribed and forwarded to the next department before further dictation is given.

These methods will go far toward solving the problem of the prompt handling of correspondence. Most large houses receive complaints of delay in answering letters, and when these complaints are investigated the causes of delay are found to be divided between a lack of method in handling correspondence and ignorance or carelessness on the part of the complainant. In any well-managed concern everything possible will be done to overcome the first-named defect, even to the extent of providing a system which will, at least partially, overcome the defects due to the latter cause.

As to the complaints due to ignorance or carelessness, it is found that at least 75% of all complaints received come within this classification. In many cases complaints come from persons whose correspondence is limited to a half-dozen letters, or less, a day. They fail to appreciate the difficulties of the correspondent whose dictation averages a hundred letters a day; being unaccustomed to the departmental plan of organization, they do not realize that each subject about which they write must be referred to one certain department. And so, a single letter contains an order, a remittance, and a request for some special information, and, because he does not receive a reply covering all subjects referred to in his letter by return mail, the customer complains of delay. It is entirely legitimate to politely request a customer to use a separate sheet for each subject—as orders, remittances, complaints, etc.—but since not all will comply, some such method as has been described is needed to insure against unreasonable delay in handling letters that require the attention of several departments.

In another class is the letter which, for some reason, cannot be answered at once. An example is the letter to a manufacturer, asking for a price on a special machine. Before a price can be named, the engineering department must make a careful estimate of the cost, and it may be necessary to secure quotations on some special material needed. This means an unavoidable delay, but the prospective customer should not be left in a state of expectancy—the letter should be acknowledged immediately, and the cause of the delay explained. The customer then feels that he is receiving attention, while if no reply is made until full information can be given, a competitor more courteous may secure the order.

Interdepartment Correspondence. Of considerable importance in every large organization is the interdepartment correspondence—the notes from one department head to another. Every department head finds it necessary at times to request information from other departments. Even with an intercommunicating telephone system, with which every large office and plant should be equipped, many of these requests are of a nature that, to guard against misunderstandings, demand written communications.

Usually, these communications call for prompt replies; a letter from a customer may be held or some important action delayed until the information is received. A good rule for the correspondent is to give attention to these notes as soon as received, and answer them at the earliest possible moment. The stenographer should, as a rule, write these notes first, or if written in the order in which they are dictated, should place them on the correspondent's desk immediately. Of course, judgment must be exercised, for some of these notes do not require immediate attention and should be held until more important correspondence is disposed of.

There are also many notes giving instructions, either from a department head to his subordinates, or from the executive heads to the heads of departments. Except on general orders, affecting all employes, the names of all department heads to whom the order applies, should appear at the head of such notes. The manager may wish to call attention to some act, common to all department heads, without making it a personal matter with any one of them, so writes the same note to all. For example:

July 15, 1909.

Mr. Blake,
Mr. Watson,
Mr. Kimball,
Mr. Cobb,
Mr. Royce,

Gentlemen;

During the past few days some of you have been a little careless about getting to the office on time. If you arrive 5 or 10 minutes late, it will have a very unfortunate effect on the discipline of your department, and I trust that each of you will strive to overcome the habit of arriving late—a habit which, I am sure, is entirely due to carelessness on your part.

Yours truly,

General Manager.

In the above example, five copies of the note are required, and four of these can be carbon copies. When Mr. Blake or Mr. Watson receives the note, he knows that it is not addressed to him alone, but that each of the others has received a copy. Without detracting from, but rather adding to, its effectiveness, this note leaves a much more pleasant impression than a personal note to each man. No one man feels that he has been singled out for criticism.