In recent years postal traffic of all kinds has increased rapidly. The growth in numbers is shown by the following table:—
| Year. | Total number of Postal Packets dealt with in the United Kingdom. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880-1 | 1,682,000,000 | |
| 1890-1 | 2,623,988,000 | |
| 1900-1 | 3,723,817,000 | |
| 1905-6 | 4,686,182,000 | |
| 1910-11 | 5,281,102,000 | |
| 1913-14 | 5,920,821,000 | [91] |
The ordinary letter, however, remains the characteristic of Post Office business and the sheet-anchor of postal finance. The vast proportion in point of numbers still consists of packets of small weight.[92] In 1913-14, of a total traffic of
some six thousand million packets (including parcels), nearly three thousand five hundred millions passed at the letter rate of postage (less than 14 per cent. of which exceeded 1 ounce in weight), one thousand millions at the postcard rate, another thousand millions at the ½d. packet rate (none exceeding 2 ounces in weight). The average weight of the two hundred million newspapers was just over 4 ounces, and of the hundred and thirty million parcels, some 2 to 3 pounds. Of the total traffic (including parcels), more than four thousand millions, consisting in general of ordinary letters and postcards, were under 1 ounce in weight; and of the remaining two thousand millions (including parcels) only some five hundred millions exceeded 4 ounces in weight.
The Post Office, in addition to its ordinary function of providing for the transmission of letters and packets, undertakes a number of subsidiary services. There are, of course, the telegraphs and telephones, the money order, postal order, and Savings Bank business, which have for many years been an integral part of the business of the Post Office. In recent years the Post Office has also undertaken the issue of certain local taxation licenses, and the payment of Old Age Pensions and Army Pensions. Now it has undertaken the sale of War Loan Stock, Exchequer Bonds, and War Savings Certificates. Apart from the telegraphs, telephones, and Savings Bank, however, these services form only a small part of the work of the Post Office. While the total cost of the ordinary postal services (i.e. excluding telegraphs, telephones, and Savings Bank) was in 1913-14 some £17,000,000, the cost of the subsidiary services was only about a million.
The staff of officers has increased as follows:—
| Year. | Male. | Female. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880-1 | — | — | 80,000 | |
| 1890-1 | 93,046 | 24,943 | 117,989 | |
| 1900-1 | 137,807 | 35,377 | 173,184 | |
| 1905-6 | 154,351 | 41,081 | 195,432 | |
| 1910-11 | 166,073 | 46,741 | 212,814 | |
| 1913-14 | 188,794 | 60,659 | 249,453 | [93] |
Concurrently with the increase of the number of officers, the rate of wages has been revised on several occasions, as the result of the recommendations of Parliamentary and other Committees appointed to consider the question of Post Office wages. The cost of the increases of wages which have been granted as the result of these revisions, calculated on the basis of the staff at the dates of the respective revisions, without allowance for subsequent growth of force, is some £3,674,950 per annum.[94] The increase of the number of officers has, of course, increased the ultimate cost of each successive improvement in pay and conditions of service.
The increased wages of the staff have naturally counterbalanced to some extent the economies resulting from the large increase of business. Since the first of these revisions, the Fawcett of 1881-2, the wages of the staff have absorbed a larger percentage of the total revenue of the postal services,[95] and the cost for staff per packet handled has increased from