Postal Manual Vol. VIII - India Post

221. Arrangements for delivery . – (1) The Superintendent should pay particular attention
to the arrangements for the delivery of articles to the public. The first and most important point to
be insisted upon is that there should be no delay in the delivery of paid and registered letters. The
early delivery of parcels and unpaid articles and the payment of money orders is of secondary
importance, though even these must not be subjected to any avoidable delay. The Superintendent
should see that the distribution of articles to the postmen proceeds in a rapid and orderly manner
and that, as soon as the distribution is completed, the postmen leave the office and proceed on their
beats. The window delivery will also require the Superintendent’s attention, and he should see that
articles for which orderlies or messengers are waiting are handled direct to them, and not through
the postmen.
(2) As the efficiency of the delivery depends in a great measure on the postmen, the
Superintendent should see that the men appointed for this work are trustworthy, intelligent and
physically fir for their duties, and should be very strict in dealing with any postman who is proved
to be lazy or negligent. If the number of letters returned as undeliverable is excessive, the
Superintendent may depute an Inspector or other subordinate to test the postmen’s work by
endeavouring to trace the addresses of letters which have been finally placed in deposit as
undelivered.
222. Examination of deposit case.- (1) Whenever the Superintendent visits the post office,
he should inspect the contents of the deposit case in order to ascertain whether any letters have
been retained in deposit unnecessarily or beyond the prescribed period by either the head office or
any of its sub or branch offices. He should make enquiries with the object of discovering whether
letters are returned by postmen and placed in deposit without sufficient care having been taken to
trace the addressees. Should any instances of this kind be detected, he should further endeavour to
find out whether the postmaster and deposit clerk have taken any steps to test the postman’s work
or rectify his negligence.
(2) In cases where the addresses on undelivered letters are full and complete, or where
instances of neglect of duty on the part of postmen are frequent or give rise to complaints from the
public, the Superintendent should adopt measures to detect the offenders by the application of one
or other of the tests prescribed for the purpose.
223. Opening of station mails.- Whenever the Superintendent is in the office at an hour
when an important mail is to be delivered, he should see that the bags opened. He should examine
the paid unregistered articles received for delivery in order to see whether any are insufficiently
paid, and if there are any, compare the total postage to be taxed on such articles with the daily
average postage taxed by the postmaster, calculated on the entries in the error book MS-2 for
preceeding three months. If any considerable difference is observed, the fact should be noted in the
Superintendent’s diary. The Superintendent should also examine all missent and mis-directed
articles taken from the station mail bags and note such of the irregularities as may be deemed
necessary in his memorandum book.
224. Closing of mails.- When the Superintendent is present in the office at an hour when
an important mail is under preparation for despatch, he should take the opportunity to watch the
work done in the sorting department, with special reference to stamping of articles cleared from
the letter-box and the defacement of the postage stamps borne by them. He should examine the
contents of some of the mail bags after they have been packed in order to detect missending and
other irregularities and to see whether insufficiently paid unregistered articles are properly taxed
with postage.
225. Sub-account Department.- The duties of the sub-account clerk are among the most
important and responsible in a head office, and the Superintendent should, therefore, pay special
attention to the sub-account department. He should see whether articles are mis-sent by the sub-