Our Post Office (Revised Ed, 1965)

[Music] next week is mother's birthday and Susan and Jimmy Gray are getting a present for her they've written a letter to a company in Milwaukee that sells through a mail order catalog Jimmy wants to be sure that he has addressed the envelope correctly he's never addressed an envelope before there how that that's fine let's see now name on the first line number and Street on the second city state and zip code number on the third the ZIP code number tells the post office at a glance which neighborhood in Milwaukee the letter goes to and in the upper left corner is the return address Jimmy has used the ZIP code number for his neighborhood in the return address too yes Jimmy has addressed the envelope correctly but it's not ready to be sealed yet they have to enclose the money the catalog says not to send cash but to send check or money order and Susan knows she can get a money order at the post office here's the post office in Evanston in the post office Susan is waiting to buy a money order to put into their letter the clerk writes out the money order it's called a postal money order because it represents a promise by the post office to pay $1.75 meanwhile Jimmy is buying a stamp for the letter the money the post office gets for stamps helps pay for the cost of sending the mail the post office sells stamps of many different kinds and prices the clerk tells Susan to write in the name of the company when they receive it the company can take it to any post office to get their money Susan gives the clerk $1.75 plus a slight charge to pay for the money order the post office is run by the post office Department of the United States government in Washington almost every town and city has a post office some bigger some smaller depending on the size of the town the mail can go from any post office to any other in the country and to foreign lands as well Susan puts the money order into the letter and checks again to make sure it's ready to mail the address is right it has a complete return address and it has a stamp Jimmy wants to be the one to drop it into the he's careful to put it into the right slot to help the post office do its work let's go behind this wall and see some of the work the post office does the tray that the letter fell into is emptied onto a sorting table letters that go by regular mail usually go by truck people in a hurry can send letters by air mail stamps for air mail letters cost more the clerk puts all the air mail letters together special delivery letters must be clearly marked and carry a special stamp the clerk puts all the special delivery letters together too now the letters are ready to be cancelled the post office has a machine that does this the machine makes a mark on the stamp so that it can't be used again but cancelling does more than Mark the stamps in the circle is the name of the post office the time the letter was canell and the date on which it was cancelled this is called a postmark some letters are cancelled by hand because they are too thick to go through the cancelling machine or because they're the wrong size now the letters go to these cases where postal clerks sort them according to where they are to go and how they are to get there some letters go to places that are close by often these letters will be delivered by truck letters addressed to more distant places usually go by train there is a special case for letters addressed to foreign countries they cost more to mail in letters for this country this case is only for letters that will go on train number 161 to Wisconsin this clerk knows in the right order the name of every town where the train stops Jimmy's and Susan's letter goes into a slot for letters addressed to Milwaukee as each slot fills up a clerk takes out the letters to be tied into bundles the post office has machines that quickly tie the bundles then the bundles of letters are tossed into large bags called pouches each pouch will go to a different place the bundle with Jimmy's and Susan's letter goes into the pouch for Milwaukee packages in the mail are called parcel post they are sorted much like letters the workers take them from this moving table and toss them into the right hamper then the packages in each hamper are sorted into different mail sacks it's 4:20 now all the mail has been taken out of the Rex train number 161 is due in Evon soon the pouches for train number 161 must be closed and locked every letter pouch is locked before it leaves the post office in order to keep the mail safe inside only postal clerks have the key the same key works all the locks the pouches are locked according to the schedules of the trains trucks and airplanes they are to go on the pouches and sacks are taken from the post office by trucks to start on their trip some air mail will go to an airport at the edge of the city at the airport air mail first goes to a special air mail post office here the mail is arranged according to the schedules of the airplanes then the pouches and sacks of mail are loaded into airplanes which take them quickly to the cities they are bound [Applause] for regular mail usually goes by train here is train number 16 1 pulling into the station this train has a special car called a railway post office which is really a post office on Wheels a post office truck has brought the pouches and sacks to the station Jimmy's and Susan's letter is in one of these pouches as the train rolls along postal Transportation clerks open pouches they have picked up from different city post offices along the railroad line in some pouches the letters are already bundled and they sort the bundles the clerks must sort some of the mail into just as the clerks in the city post offices do every clerk carries a pistol to protect the mail along with the key that opens the pouches stacked near the door are the pouches that are to be put off at the next station and so the postal Transportation clerks keep working as the train rolls along it's early in the morning several days later the mail carriers are coming to work at the Evanston post office they must be ready to leave the post office by 8:00 to deliver the mail they have a lot to do before then they must sort the mail that has come in since yesterday each carrier arranges his letters in the order he will deliver them Partial Post must be arranged this way too it is sorted on the same moving table it will be delivered by truck and here is the package addressed to Jimmy and Susan Gray the birthday present has come at last Mrs Gray has no idea what's in the package she can hardly wait for Jimmy and Susan to come home from school oh happy Birthday Mother you're the greatest oh thank you okay okay now let's turn it over like this here see I had the scissors cut it here here and here come on [Music] now and that's how the post office helped Jimmy and Susan surprise their mother with a birthday present oh