# Question about USPS in the 1970s and 1980s **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717 "2020-08-22T04:13:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/1 "2020-08-22T04:13:33Z")
I have a question about mail processing at that time, and Google isn’t helping me. Maybe I’m leaving out a crucial keyword, IDK. Anyway, I knew several women (all women; keep the era in mind) who worked at the central processing facility, and they would rotate jobs during the day. One of them - a job that they would only do for 45 minutes at a time - involved a mechanical arm placing a letter in front of them, and then had 1 second (that’s right, ONE SECOND) to read the ZIP code and type it in, and then another mechanical arm would take the letter away, and another would land in front of them. You would also see stock footage on TV of big roomfuls of people (okay, women) doing this. IIRC, they had to wear earplugs because it was so noisy. What was that job called? Does anyone know (or did it at some time)? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/2 "2020-08-22T04:24:37Z")
Mail sorting. Those machines were likely Transorma machines, or some variation on the idea. It sounds like the machines were at least partially pneumatic, which would account for some of the noise. > **[Mail sorting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_sorting)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Mail sorting refers to the methods by which postal systems determine how and where to route mail for delivery. Once accomplished by hand, mail sorting is now largely automated through the aid of specialized machines. The first widely adopted mail sorting machine was the Transorma, first made operational in Rotterdam in 1930. > Mail sorting systems are now also used by corporations and other mailers to presort mail prior to delivery in order to earn d... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/3 "2020-08-22T04:44:45Z")
Thanks, Kenobi. Here’s a video of some people doing this. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/p8sTsfUJAK8/maxresdefault.jpg ""Multi-Position Letter Sorting Machine" (MPLSM)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8sTsfUJAK8) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/4 "2020-08-22T08:55:36Z")
That’s a very cool video. Thanks! You wouldn’t happen to know the keyboard layout for MPLSM, would you? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/5 "2020-08-22T16:22:00Z")
[MPLSMs were introduced in '68](https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/systems-at-work-the-exhibition/1968); at the bottom of that page is an image of the keyboard. [![](https://postalmuseum.si.edu/sites/default/files/mplsm-keyboard-1.jpg) ](https://postalmuseum.si.edu/sites/default/files/mplsm-keyboard-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/6 "2020-08-22T16:34:59Z")
[James A. Farley post office](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Farley_Building), NYC, 1959: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MuvwoBb7gs4/hqdefault.jpg "World's Most Mechanised Post Office (1959)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuvwoBb7gs4) Jump to [0:48](https://youtu.be/MuvwoBb7gs4?t=48) for people doing the same thing with earlier machines. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/7 "2020-08-22T16:47:53Z")
You know, I bet it got a lot more pleasant to work in their buildings once they finally got color. The black & white ones seem very drab. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/8 "2020-08-22T16:50:23Z")
[C dad] Actually, those are color photos. The whole world was black and white in those days. [/C dad] ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/9 "2020-08-22T16:57:57Z")
I started working summers for the Post Office in 1970. We were first placed inside sorting mail before being turned loose on the world as carriers. I assure you I remember the inside of the main post office as being in black & white, well, as being mostly shades of gray since everything was built out of concrete. I never saw glitzy mail sorters staffed by attractive people in brightly colored clothing. Admittedly, we were never allowed anywhere near the letter mail. We only did “flats” (oversized mail) and small parcels. The pace was much, much slower, too. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/10 "2020-08-22T19:40:42Z")
I worked as a carrier in the summer of 1970 (great job) in Queens, and they never even tried to let me sort. That was done by someone before I got there. I took the first load, the rest were put in relay boxes. I would have taken forever, so it was good. I didn’t see enough of the office to remember what color it was. The other thing was that the routes were not balanced - I did lots of them. Some were quite short, and others were very long, especially ones where the mail boxes were on the top of stairs from the street, ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/11 "2020-08-22T22:41:58Z")
When I said sorting mail, I meant at the central Post Office. The first two summers I sorted the case for the route I was doing that day, a very different job. The third summer they put us on part-time and we walked in to a sorted case. Sorting a case did take time; I was always the last one out of the station. Routes were designed to be “squared off.” That meant that the carrier was not allowed to walk on a lawn but had to return to the sidewalk each time. That doubled the time of a route. The exact route order had to be followed; short cuts from one street to another were forbidden. Naturally, the regulars paid no attention at all to these regulations except when they were with an inspector. Regulars could get their routes done by lunchtime. Large numbers of them had part-time jobs or their own businesses they could go to in the afternoon before they had to return to the district office. Abuses like these were part of the reforms that created the USPS. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/12 "2020-08-23T01:28:29Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Routes were designed to be “squared off.” That meant that the carrier was not allowed to walk on a lawn but had to return to the sidewalk each time. That doubled the time of a route. The exact route order had to be followed; short cuts from one street to another were forbidden. Naturally, the regulars paid no attention at all to these regulations except when they were with an inspector. Regulars could get their routes done by lunchtime. Large numbers of them had part-time jobs or their own businesses they could go to in the afternoon before they had to return to the district office. Abuses like these were part of the reforms that created the USPS. I never cut across lawns, but when there was a path from one door high above the street to another, I sure as hell took it. And I did get feedback from the inspector, through my boss, so I knew they were watching. Not for that sin, though. When I went with a veteran carrier for my one day of training, I discovered that he could deliver quickly, and the last part of the route was within a bar. Someone found out about the test, so about 15 of us from MIT took the test in a high school in Newton. We all knew how to sort addresses. A lot of people were stuck in the late shift moving mailbags at JFK so I was lucky to get routes. Paid well too, and I got a 25 cents an hour retroactive raise after the union signed a contract with the system. A lot in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/13 "2020-08-23T01:42:07Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Routes were designed to be “squared off.” That meant that the carrier was not allowed to walk on a lawn but had to return to the sidewalk each time. Is this still the case? I live in a house with the mailbox by the door. Our mailcarrier certainly walks through the lawns between houses whenever I’ve seen him. I don’t mind in the slightest personally, but just wondering if that rule has changed. I do wonder how many neighborhoods are still around like mine, where the mail is delivered on foot. I assume that increases the cost of delivery substantially. I mean, if it saves the post office from bankruptcy, I can handle walking to the end of my driveway. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/14 "2020-08-23T02:39:20Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Is this still the case? Don’t have a clue. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/15 "2020-08-23T06:30:02Z")
Lots of houses have defined paths to the house next door. installed flat stepping stones in my lawn/flowers leading next door, and i shovel it a bit in the winter. Cause I appreciate getting the mail. Many houses with fences or shrubs actually have a gateway there for the postal carrier. you notice this stuff when you are doing political door-knocking, where you follow pretty much the same path. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/16 "2020-08-23T07:29:26Z")
Also very cool, but it doesn’t say what keys are for which digits. I’d assume that you start with “1” on the far left and proceed through the decimal digits until getting to 0 on the far right key, but I’d like to know for sure. Looking online, I discovered that the operator does not key in the entire ZIP code, but just tthe first three digits. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/17 "2020-08-23T08:55:10Z")
I used to work on a task much like this in the 1960’s, sorting checks at a bank. Using an “IBM Proof Machine,” we entered the amount of the check, and punched a button – one of 32 – that routed the check to a specific pocket on a rotating drum. When day was done, each pocket’s contents were removed, an (automatically generated) adding machine tape attached to each, then all bundles were physically sent to a different department for posting or transport to other banks. Larger banks than ours had rooms full of proof machines and multiple operators, but we had only two. The IBM Proof Machine was the only IBM machine at the time that did not require punch cards. It was a big improvement over hand sorting and hand tabulating, the process that we started with in the Clearings Department. I learned how to reprogram the machine (using tiny jumper cables and shorting plugs) for a new task, accounting for loan payments. Previous to my suggestion, the auditor’s staff did this by hand every day. He was overjoyed when I said I could do his entire day’s task in an hour every morning on the IBM machine, but my immediate boss wasn’t happy, since I had bypassed her and appealed directly to the auditor. She was worried that I’d blow up the machine by changing the wiring. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/18 "2020-08-23T14:40:40Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > > > Routes were designed to be “squared off.” That meant that the carrier was not allowed to walk on a lawn but had to return to the sidewalk each time. > > Is this still the case? > > I live in a house with the mailbox by the door. Our mailcarrier certainly walks through the lawns between houses whenever I’ve seen him… As does ours. I don’t mind. He hasn’t worn a dirt path through our grass or anything. How did the little up-and-down arm hang onto the letter on those old sorting machines as it placed them in the rack? Was it sticky? Air suction? Something else? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/19 "2020-08-23T14:51:06Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > How did the little up-and-down arm hang onto the letter on those old sorting machines as it placed them in the rack? Was it sticky? Air suction? Something else? The Wikipedia article to which I linked earlier in the thread says that the Transorma machines were pneumatic, so I suspect it was air pressure. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717/20 "2020-08-23T15:00:13Z")
[Here is the story of the first automated Post Office in the US or A](https://postalmuseum.si.edu/collections/object-spotlight/first-automated-post-office-in-the-us-issue). It ends the way most Rhode Island stories end. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-usps-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/918717.md?page=2)