Monday February 23rd, 2015

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to my mom that while one of the managers was on vacation, I had the task of opening the company mail and distributing it to the correct recipients.  She didn’t seem to think this was too much of a task until I started to explain.

First I need to explain that the amount of mail received daily can fluctuate to a large degree.  Sometimes the bag is totally full (in case you can’t tell, it’s an army-issue duffle bag) and sometimes it’s just rattling around in the bottom.  Today, the bag was full.  Mostly I like it when it’s magazines and packages.  They take very little time to sort and distribute.

Today, however, it was mostly envelopes.  Business #10 envelopes.  The mail is first sorted into sizes – magazines and newspapers, large flats, mid-size envelopes, and normal business size.  Then comes the task of slicing all the envelopes open.

I like to slice all the envelopes open first, then go through them to see what the content is and who whom the correspondence belongs.  That is easier than opening a piece, setting aside the slicer, going through the envelope, then putting it in the proper pile.  Sometimes the contents are obvious:  checks, invoices for payment, titles, advertisements.  Often they are NOT so obvious, and I have to go through each piece, read and interpret it, and decide the department to which it belongs. 

After the mail is sorted, it is banded together and placed either on the manager/owners desks or placed in the corporate mailboxes in the office foyer.  Today this took me about 2 hours.  Luckily I can switch the radio on and listen to Y108 (Pittsburgh’s Country!) while I am slicing and sorting.  Mostly I have no problem deciding where the mail should go, but there are pieces that totally stump me, and I have to do some research to find out where it belongs.  Every time I open the mail, I learn something or find something new.  It’s an adventure, but it certainly does take time.  So when I say I have to open the mail, it’s no small thing.

Just thought – – you’d like to know!