We Never Close (1970s)

[Music] you are looking at a few of the millions of reasons for the existence of our Postal System people nearly 200 millions of Americans the best reasons in the world for offering service but until recently they have had to come to us now we have started to offer our services where the people are and in a form that permits them to serve themselves which they are willing to do the self-service post office is a New Concept in the process of stamping weighing and handling letters and parcel posts with this newly available service anyone can buy stamps and deposit mail at any time day or night and on Sundays and holidays every day of the [Music] year this is one version of the self-service post office lobby vending machines available in regular post offices independent of the hours of operation of the station itself another type is the Outdoor walkup post office such as this one in downtown Washington DC it is designed principally for pedestrians wherever the there is a preponderance of such traffic that includes college campuses the largest type of self-service post office is the drive up unit being installed in shopping centers and City malls providing Postal Services right where people are and carrying out the great appeal of these areas everything you want at one location [Music] the parcel post scale is often the first stopping point the mailing zone of the destination is easily found and when the corresponding key is pressed the machine displays the amount of postage required the change maker is another great convenience it makes change for dimes quarters half dollars and $1 bills coins are needed of course for the stamp vending machine the prices of the stamp sold by these multi-denominational machines are the same as at a regular post office no markups stamp imprinted postcards and envelopes both regular and air mail are dispensed at the multicommodity machine you can even ensure a package in fact all main post office services except registration and money orders are conveniently available here and there's even free direct line phone service for postal information uh can you tell me how much postage it takes to send a 5B package to Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia Canada uh thank you there's no doubt that these self-service units are popular and convenient additions to our Postal System a small businessman who often does his bills and paperwork after hours or on the weekend likes the 24-hour availability when The Working Girl becomes a pedestrian at lunch or after work a self-service unit is a tremendous convenience for [Music] her everyone enjoys Assurance of parking space especially the housewife who likes to buy her stamps of mail letters at whatever time happens to be the most convenient for [Music] her of course nothing will ever take the place of the regular post office but self-service units can relieve the pressure and cut down the cues allowing the window services to be operated more effectively and efficiently this gives stature and importance to the work of The Men Who service and maintain the self-service units the clerk technition who does this has some conventional duties too because there are not enough self-service units in his area to take up all his [Music] time he Services his units about once a week or oftener if necessary he takes along replacement magazines for the coin dis fening machines together with envelopes and stamps since these items are almost as good as money he must be able to account for them to the penny a walk around inspection is usually the first item to take care of he looks for any indications of vandalism or damage to the equipment or the structure including SIDS then he goes inside if he finds for example that a stamp dispenser module has a bad solenoid it can clear the trouble quickly by replacing the entire module instead of working on the bad solenoid which is a job for the maintenance [Music] mechanic cleaning the machines comes next this is in reality preventive maintenance because dust and dirt if allowed to to accumulate can cause operational trouble he gives the coin changing machines fresh supplies of [Music] coins and empties the collection [Music] boxes a good clerk technician is part Merchant so he wants to have plenty of merchandise on hand at all times and no missed sales or dissatisfied [Music] customers he makes sure that everything works as it should [Music] la [Music] sorting the collected coins and Counting the bills is usually his first job after returning to the main post office then he loads the coin magazines that he'll be taking out on the next service trip of course there's always some paperwork but it is held to a minimum and includes only items that are directly related to the proper operation of the [Music] units the maintenance mechanic visits a unit only when there's something specifically wrong that the clerk technician can't take care of a malfunctioning multicommodity machine for example may have to have its complicated panel board checked out and this is one of the things the mechanic has been trained to do or you may be called a bond to replace a vend motor occasionally a relay will burn [Music] out he knows how to adjust or replace the sensitive Optical scanner in the bill verifier element of the changer [Music] if the maintenance mechanic can't pinpoint the cause of a malfunction immediately he goes through a specified troubleshooting routine that will reveal the difficulty in addition to the clerk technician's regular inspections he and the mechanic make a thorough inspection ction at least once a year they examine all the parts and the unit as a whole to see how it is standing up against the wear and tear of time and weather and determine whether it needs structural repairs painting or other general or special maintenance both men were specially selected for this work and each received weeks of intensive training in maintaining and servicing all equipment for self-service units they learned by by working with the equipment they would actually be servicing the classes are small and all instruction is personal clerk technicians have to know how everything works but they do not go into as much detail as the maintenance mechanics as part of the course equipment is bugged and the trainees are then quizzed on how the trouble is identified and corrected there is a written final exam at the end of the training period [Music] the maintenance mechanics study each device in complete detail covering both Theory and practical application they learn how the build changer works for example and how it refuses to work if the bill is incorrectly inserted or if a piece of green paper is inserted frequent brief tests show the men how they're doing training includes mastering the task of stripping down and reassembling every device used in a self-service unit as just one example each band gets 6 hours of practical work on the currency and coin changer removing inspecting and replacing every part the procedure for testing and adjusting the parcel post scale is mastered so that the field tests can be made quickly and accurately in the training Center's worklab the maintenance mechanics go through all phases of corrective maintenance and repair thus field routines will become second nature as the culmination of their weeks of training the men receive certificates of the completion of training and qualification [Music] the popularity and convenience of self-service units make it most likely that many more will be installed in the years ahead and as the Postal Service continues to expand and keep up with the demands placed upon it The Men Who keep these self-service units working give real meaning to the slogan we never close the