The cost of handling these parcels was equivalent to the cost of handling 133,663,000 11 = 1,470,293,000 packets other than parcels.

In 1913-14 the total number of packets other than parcels dealt with was 5,831,550,000 (Table A).

And the total cost of staff engaged in dealing with all packets, including parcels, was 10,263,460 (Table C).

Hence the total cost of handling 133,663,000 parcels was

10,263,460 1,470,293,000/7,301,843,000 = 2,066,642.

And the total cost of handling 5,831,550,000 packets other than parcels was 8,196,818.

TABLE G

a.n.a.lYSIS OF COST OF STAFF.

LETTER MAILS.

_Total Cost_, 8,196,818.

The handling of postal packets falls into the following groups of operations:--

(_a_) Collection and delivery,

(_b_) Facing, stamping, and sorting,

(_c_) Administration and accounting.

The cost of administration and accounting when reduced to the individual packet is extremely small. In general also it varies to some extent with the size of the packet. Thus the newspaper packets and the halfpenny packets, which are considerably heavier than the ordinary letters, notoriously involve more difficulty and expense in administration; and the postcard, the lightest postal packet, notoriously involves least difficulty and expense in administration. Parcels undoubtedly involve much more expense for accounting than any other cla.s.s of packet; so that if the expense for administration and accounting be divided in the ratio adopted for sorting, stamping, collection, and delivery, which also depends largely on the weight of the packet, no appreciable error is introduced. No attempt is made, therefore, to isolate the expense for administration and accounting.

The total cost of collection and delivery is estimated to be double the total cost of facing, stamping, and sorting.

The cost of delivery is estimated to be four times the cost of collection.

The cost of sorting is estimated to be four times the cost of facing and stamping.

The total cost of handling packets other than parcels (excluding cost of conveyance) = 8,196,818.

Hence--

Total cost of collection = 1,092,909 " " facing and stamping = 546,455 " " sorting = 2,185,818 " " delivery = 4,371,636 ---------- Total 8,196,818 ==========

TABLE H

RELATIVE RATES OF SORTING AND STAMPING.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Relative Rate

Relative Rate

of Stamping.

of Sorting.

---------------------------------------+--------------+--------------- Ordinary Letter Packets--

(_a_) not exceeding 1 oz.

1,000

100 (_b_) over 1 oz., not exceeding 4 oz.

75

75 (_c_) over 4 oz.

75

60 Postcards

1,000

100 Halfpenny Packets

750

90 Newspaper Packets

80

70 ---------------------------------------+--------------+---------------

NOTE I. The rates both as regards stamping and as regards sorting are not actual but relative rates. In both cases the handling of an ordinary light letter is taken as the standard with which the rate of handling other articles is compared. The table is intended to indicate, e.g., that if in a given period of time 100 ordinary light letters would be sorted, only 75 letters weighing between 1 ounce and 4 ounces, or only 90 halfpenny packets, would be sorted in the same period; or if in a given period of time 1,000 ordinary light letters would be stamped, only 75 letters over 1 ounce in weight, or only 80 newspapers, would be stamped in the same period. All that is aimed at is the normal relative rate of sorting for each cla.s.s of packet. It is not necessary to ascertain the normal absolute rate.

NOTE II. _Rates of Stamping._--In determining rates of stamping, a serious complication is introduced by the use of machines (both hand and power) at many offices for stamping certain cla.s.ses of packets. In London, where approximately one-third of the total number of postal packets is posted, power machine-stamps are employed, except at a few of the sub-district sorting offices, at which hand machine-stamps are still employed. There are a few of the smaller offices at which all the stamping is done by hand, but the number of such offices and the number of packets so stamped is negligible. The power machine stamps at rates varying from 12 to 16 times as great as that of an officer stamping by hand; the hand machine stamps at a rate about ten times as great.

Power machine-stamps are in use in the provinces in towns in which approximately a quarter of the total number of postal packets is posted.

Hand machine-stamps are in use in other towns in the provinces where approximately one-twelfth of the total number of postal packets is posted.

In the remaining towns there is hand stamping only.

The foregoing estimates give an average rate of stamping throughout the kingdom for those cla.s.ses of packets which are of a size and shape to pa.s.s through the machine-stamp, where available, of about ten times as great as that of an officer stamping by hand.

This figure must now be applied to the various cla.s.ses of packets shown in the table, in conjunction with the rates of hand-stamping for such packets as cannot be pa.s.sed through the machine-stamp.

(_a_) Practically all letters under 1 ounce can be pa.s.sed through the machine-stamp if available. Hence the rate for this cla.s.s is ten times the rate of hand-stamping.

(_b_) None of the second or third cla.s.ses of packets can be pa.s.sed through the machine. Further, these packets are of irregular shape and are therefore much less convenient to deal with than ordinary letters.

The rate of hand-stamping is therefore only about three-fourths the rate for ordinary letters.

(_c_) All postcards can be pa.s.sed through the machine-stamp if available. The rate is therefore ten times the rate of hand-stamping.

(_d_) A large proportion of halfpenny packets cannot, on account of their size and shape, be pa.s.sed through the machine-stamp, and the figure for the machine-stamp must be considerably reduced for these packets. The nearest estimate that can be formed for these packets is 7.5 times the rate for hand-stamping.

(_e_) Newspapers cannot be pa.s.sed through the machine-stamp, but in a number of cases the wrappers are taken to the post office before the newspapers are enclosed in them for cancellation of the postage stamps (in order to secure a prompt despatch when the newspapers are actually posted). The rate for such stamping is slightly greater than the rate of hand-stamping for ordinary letters. On the other hand, the rate of stamping newspaper packets is not more than two-thirds the rate of hand-stamping ordinary letters. The nearest estimate that can be formed for all newspapers is that the rate of stamping is four-fifths the rate of hand-stamping ordinary letters.

NOTE III. _Rates of Sorting._--(_a_) The average rate of sorting for ordinary letters is taken as the unit.

(_b_) The rate of sorting letters and the rate of sorting postcards may be taken as identical.

(_c_) Owing to the irregular shape of newspaper packets, and letter packets over 4 ounces in weight, the average normal rate of sorting must be taken as considerably less than that for letters.

Both cla.s.ses are usually sorted at the packet tables and not at the ordinary letter frames.

(_d_) The letter packets between 1 ounce and 4 ounces in weight present some difficulty, since they include a considerable number of long letters, which are sorted at the ordinary letter frames at nearly the same rate as short letters, while the rest are sorted at the packet tables at about the same rate as the heavier packets. The figure should obviously be between (_a_) and (_c_).

(_e_) The halfpenny packets also fall into two cla.s.ses: (1) those sorted as short letters, and (2) those sorted at the newspaper frames. A very large proportion fall into the second cla.s.s, and the average normal rate of sorting, as in the case of the second cla.s.s of letter packets, is intermediate between (_a_) and (_c_).

TABLE J

STAFF.