Within the last few years the burden of the parcel post has been added to the duties of the post-office. It is estimated that 75,000 pieces of parcel-post matter are handled at the General Post-office daily, and that 65,000 additional pieces of this matter are received at the same point from the stations.
Parcel-post packages are commonly very bulky. Such may now be mailed for local delivery and for delivery in the first, second, and third zones, that is, within three hundred miles of the place of mailing, if they do not exceed seventy pounds in weight, while packages not in excess of fifty pounds may be mailed to any address in the United States. The handling of these packages necessitates the use of entirely different character of equipment. As far as it is practicable to do so, this matter is segregated from mail of the other classes. Many of the packages are too large to be inclosed readily in mail sacks, and are forwarded "outside." In the distribution of parcel-post matter, sack racks are used into which all parcels which are small enough to be sacked are separated. The distribution, as in the other classes, is made at primary and secondary racks.
A feature of the Mailing Division is the handling of such equipment, as pouches, sacks, etc., intended to be used for the transportation of the mails. Approximately 69,000 sacks and 18,000 pouches are shipped by the New York General office daily.
The Mailing Division—Incoming Foreign Section
In this section mails are handled which are received from foreign countries. These arrive chiefly on steamers that make New York their port of destination. Some of the foreign mails, however, reach New York via Boston, Philadelphia, Key West, New Orleans, Laredo, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver. The number of pieces of mail received from foreign countries weekly by this section approximates 3,639,000 letters and cards, 2,631,000 pieces of printed matter, 15,000 packages of parcel post, and 568,500 registered articles. These are forwarded to their destination after distribution. Many of the letters and cards are not prepaid, or are prepaid but partly, and the postage charged on such matter approximates $14,200 each week.
Carriers leaving the General Post Office
on an early morning delivery.
Owing to the unsettled conditions in Europe the rates> of postage in foreign countries are continually changing. As a result of the depreciation of Russian currency, letters coming from that country have recently been prepaid at the rate of 450,000 rubles per ounce or fraction thereof. Prior to the war a ruble was worth approximately 51.46 cents. The 450,000 rubles are now equivalent to fifty centimes of gold, or ten cents in United States currency.
