This isn't Q, but I imagine the same thing was true in
various stations.
The Santa Fe station in Oklahoma City was on elevated
trackage. There was a hole in the platform, and the mail
car was spotted so a portable chute could be rolled up with
one end at the mail/baggage car door and the other end at
the hole.
Mail bags were heaved onto this chute. They slid down
the chute and banged into the sharp edge of the hold in
the platform, then dropped through the hole to the mail and
baggage room at street level below.
Often several of the mailbags would jam at the edge
of the opening in the platform, and bags would continue to
be thrown onto the chute until they somehow jarred the
leading bags loose from the edge and they would all crash
into each other and fall to the floor below.
That was in the 1940s and 1950s. Since then I've
understood why the Post Office Department, and now the
Postal Service, warns that if you send anything fragile
it must be well packed to withstand handling in the
mail. "Handling in the mail" means it won't get any
special attention and no telling how far it will drop
or what will be thrown on top of it.
Since I used the station frequently, I watched
often as part of my interest in trains and railroading.
However, the Postal Service does use machines now,
particularly on "flats" (big envelopes such as magazine
size) and they are another source of damage.
Wes Leatherock
wleath@s...
On Sun, 29 Oct 2000, LARRY L. DOUB wrote:
> Just a word about the USPS,
> It's not a machine that does this, I buy allot of things from ebay, and one
> morning I just happen to be at the PO and when I asked if I had any packages,
> 'They hold them there for me" they said they had not checked yet, went over
> and picked up the mail bag with the packages in it and dumped it on the
> floor, not a light dumping either.
> I about pooped my pants,
> They do not much take into mind if anything is breakable or not,
> I have had packages and MR magazines that have been to the mill and back.
> I you mail it, Pack it well, OR it may not come in one piece.
>
> Larry
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