em. Each item as bought is entered by department,
sales number and amount on a shipping and charge sheet. When an order
going by mail is all bought, it is carefully checked by the buyer,
weighed, and the amount of postage determined as near as possible, when
goods and order are handed to shipping clerk, who enters the name and
address on the shipping slip, when all are passed to the mailing
section, where goods are carefully checked, wrapped, weighed, amount of
postage determined, parcels addressed, stamps put on, entered by name,
address and amount of postage in a parcel-mailing book, and placed on
sorting table, after which they are sorted and placed into different
bags by State, Province, or whatever division of parcels the post office
authorities may name, that will facilitate rapid handling and quick
despatch. Should a parcel, when wrapped, require more postage than
customer has allowed money for, it should be laid aside, and the head of
division should determine whether to hold parcel and write for the
additional amount required, omit something from the parcel, or allow the
customer to remit the balance due. Where small amounts are to be
returned to customers, in some cases their particular parcels, as
wrapped, may be left open at one end and placed on a separate table,
where, after checking, a small envelope containing the amount to be
returned may be enclosed in the parcel. These little envelopes may be
prepared in advance and placed in separate divisions, all one-cent
envelopes being in one space, all two-cent envelopes in another, and so
on, so that the work can be done rapidly, and a great saving effected
in postage on letters which otherwise would require to be written in
order to return the balance due. All registered parcels are kept
separate and signed for by the post office authorities. It is easy at
any time, by reference, to find out exactly how a package was addressed,
how much postage was put on the parcel, how much money was enclosed,
whether registered or not, and just what mail it was sent out on.

All orders, when properly checked, should be passed back to the
book-keepers, who, having made the original entry and credited the cash
when the order was first received and before goods were bought, may now
refer to that order number, name and address again, and charge the
customer with amount of goods sent, amount of postage paid, and cash
returned, or remaining to be returned, thus balancing the accou