“ MAIL IN MOTION ” 1956 POSTAL TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION PROMO RAILWAY POST OFFICE (RPO) XD80444b

Join this channel to get access to perks: Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit Visit our website This educational short “Mail in Motion“ shows the work of the U.S. Postal service and its employes in the 1950’s, and showcases the mobile Railway Post Office as well as the somewhat short-lived Highway Post Office. It follows a man named Bob who takes up employment within the Post Office. The film is presented by the National Postal Transport Association (:14). NPTA was a labor union for employees specifically in the Postal Transportation Service The film was directed by Frank McGeary (:25). It opens with images of US Postal drop boxes (1:09). A mail delivery person moves along his route (1:20). Bob Smith (1:39) appears six months after completing his exam for employment. He opens his offer letter for employment with the US Post Office as a substitute postal transportation clerk. The post office he is to work at follows (1:56). On his first day, Bob reports to the District Transportation Managers office (2:01). Other employees sort mail (2:19). Bob accepts his employment and takes an oath (2:48). He undergoes his first training session (3:16). The trainer explains various types of equipment and their uses (4:13). Within thirty days, Bob must pass two written exams (4:35). Another exam will be completed after 60 days (4:38). The examiner supervises as Bob begins his test (5:02). His first assignment is in a postal transportation service terminal (5:23) at a railroad station. Mail is loaded onto a conveyor belt (5:30). Sacks of mail move by cart to be processed (6:05). Bob moves sacks from one truck to another (6:24). Bob prepares for his first case examination (7:11). After completion, the examiner checks Bob’s work and delivers him a high score (8:07). Bulk mail is sorted at the terminal (8:38). The filled sacks are labeled and tied out (9:09). The camera pans over a massive span of parcels as 12 million arrived here annually (10:15). An American Airlines plane takes off carrying airmail (10:43). A clerk uses the twine cutter to separate incoming airmail (11:22). Mail is stuck into pigeon holes (11:36). Bob receives training on site (12:01). Sacks are loaded up and onto an air mail plane (13:26) by conveyor belt. The Highway Post Office, which appears to be a modified Twin Coach bus, moves down the road (13:43). Mobile post offices became more prevalent as folks spread out from cities and settled in suburban areas. Bob sorts mail on the moving bus (13:55). The bus moves through a crowded street to deliver mail to a post office (14:10). Workers conduct a direct change of mail (14:26). The post office of upper Marlboro, Maryland (14:47).Highway Post Office as an employee waves goodbye (14:50). The very first bus of this kind was built in the 1940’s. This program was decommissioned in the 1960’s as the post office adopted and expanded innovations such as the “Metro system”. Bob takes his first trip on a Railway Post Office (15:15). He and coworkers report to the RTO car (15:16). This car moves from Washington and Chicago (15:24). One man inserts letter case headers into pigeon holes (15:47). Sacks of mail are loaded (16:03). Another worker checks over a record of all received pouches (16:19). Mail is taken into the car (16:26). The train conductor sets the train on it’s way (16:30). Employees move rapidly around the pouch table (17:01). Bob works at the other end of the car (17:22) to distribute newspapers. The mail crews bob and weave along sorting the mail as the train moves from town to town (18:03). A mail clerk readies himself to make an exchange of mail from the train (19:05). The pouch is tossed (19:13) and the man lifts the catcher arm (19:16). The incoming pouch is swiftly grabbed by the train (19:18). Bob is pictured returning home after completing his probationary year (19:43). He opens a letter from his District Manager (19:51) offering him assignment as a clerk in a postal transportation terminal. Highway Post Office moves down the road (20:00), an air mail plane takes the sky (20:06) and a train is shown (20:06). This film was produced by the Labor Education Committee (20:15). We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit