https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/84570865-1acb-4065-bc52-4db06b52ca76 Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com This film "The Story of the U.S. Mail" (1959) was produced by Lewis & Martin Films and filmed in Illinois. It discusses the challenges and modernization efforts of the USPS. It highlights the outdated methods of mail handling and the increasing demand due to population growth and expanding suburbs. Efforts to modernize mail handling to improve efficiency are shown. These include the two-story Transorma for sorting letters, the mail flow system in Detroit, and mechanized parcel post handling in Baltimore, new vehicles like the Mailster and satchel carts help carriers deliver more mail efficiently. Modern post office buildings and customer-friendly devices are also part of the improvements. Ongoing research and development aim to further speed up mail processing. The film begins with (truncated) series of remarks by Rollin D. Barnard, the Deputy Assistant Postmaster General. • 0:31-0:43: People trust the postal service to deliver mail quickly and accurately, but the system is outdated. :34: mailboxes for local and out of town mail. A boy opens a post office box at his home. At :54, mail is sorted in a post office. • 0:59-1:19: The growing population and expanding suburbs will increase the demand for mail services by 1985. At 1:16, a shot of new tract houses in a new suburb. The urban sprawl of the 1960s is shown in a montage of new buildings, construction, and real estate advertising signs including one advertising ranch houses and bi-levels at 1:31. 1:48, a map of the globe showing that the USA is only 1/50th of the Earth's total area with 2/3rds of the world's mail. At 2:03, a Dodge postal truck pulls up in front of the Old Orchard Bank and Trust. At 2:12. an animation shows a post office swelling in size. • 2:28-3:00: Since 1953, efforts have been made to modernize mail handling, but many outdated practices remain. At 3:16, mail is sorted by hand and placed in appropriate slots for different cities including Detroit. • 3:27-3:36: Letters are handled manually multiple times, which is slow and inefficient. • 3:56-4:04: The main issue is speeding up mail processing in post offices. • 4:12-4:38: New machines like the two-story Transorma can sort thousands of letters per hour,. The Transorma was the first large-scale multi-position mail sorting machine, built by the Dutch heavy industrial company, Werkspoor. • 4:43-5:01: The mail flow system in Detroit moves mail mechanically, reducing manual handling. • 5:15-5:30: Mechanization of parcel post handling in Baltimore speeds up the process. At 5:41, a Black or African American employee sorts packages using an automatic key tab. • 6:09-6:22: Modernization efforts include new machinery and improvements outside post offices. At 6:28, a postman is shown going door to door to deliver mail. • 6:31-7:00: The new Mailster vehicle helps carriers deliver more mail efficiently. The Westcoaster Mailster was a small three-wheeled vehicle used for mail delivery. They could haul 500 pounds of mail, including large parcels, versus the 35-pound limit of a foot carrier, and once represented one-third of the delivery vehicles used by the Post Office • 7:24-7:34: Satchel carts allow carriers to handle more mail without carrying heavy loads. • 7:36-8:03: New post office buildings are designed for functionality and convenience. 7:41: Barrington, Illinois Post Office. • 8:05-8:30: Devices like dial-driven stamp vending machines and lock boxes improve customer experience. • 8:38-9:47: Businesses can help by sorting their mail and using new tools like pressure-sensitive tape. • 9:49-10:18: Ongoing research and development aim to further speed up mail processing. • 10:24-11:00: Experimental machines like automatic culling and cancelling systems are being tested. Montage of mail being sorted and processed with new machinery. • 11:03-12:18: Future machines will further reduce manual sorting and improve efficiency. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. 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 http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3tWYVdwZRU Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:13:37 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/84570865-1acb-4065-bc52-4db06b52ca76 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.