An undamaged letter or package with a legible, correct 9 digit zipcode (either printed or hand written) will probably *never* be read by *any* postal employee. Thats why the sorting centers have those huge, expensive sorting machines. The machines read the address and zip code and arrange the mail into address delivery sequence bundles for each mail carrier's route. Even the smallest post offices receive their incoming mail from regional sorting centers. This is true even for a letter that is just being mailed across town.
Sorting of mail is done at speeds of tens of thousands of items per hour at each sorting center. The type of manual sorting you are depicting was phased out starting in the 1950s.
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It's amazing that for all the technology used that sorts tons of mail on a daily basis it all comes down to an uncaring Boob that can't put already sorted mail into the right slot.Pretty much all new home developments have community mail boxes spread out on the streets.Each box will hold the mail for maybe 16 individual homes.In my box there is a label with the persons name stuck in the back for the postal worker to match the mail to.
It might be a boring job doing the same route every day but the hardest thing that employee will do is check the weather and decide which uniform to wear that day.
Just so you know...I'm not some goober that still thinks that all mail is hand sorted from start to finish.
