=Daily Mail Report.= That the information may be in convenient form for statistical purposes and for making final reports, there should be a daily mail report. This report should be a complete record of everything mailed, showing the number of pieces and the rate of postage for each. A form for such a report is shown in Fig. 13. This report is divided for a record of regular mail-letters, circulars, and catalogs--and merchandise. The latter is not required in all cases, but is very important for a concern doing a mail-order business in small articles which can be sent by mail.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Form for a Daily Mail Report]
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Stamp Identification]
This report shows the description, number of pieces, and postage rate. In the description column the name of the department should be written first, followed by a description of the mail originating in that department. The daily report should be made up by the stamp clerk, without reference to the individual employes' reports, as it is intended as a check against the latter. A memorandum of the number of pieces reported for the different operations by the employes should be kept, and at the end of the week compared with the quantities shown by the daily mail reports. For some of the operations, the quantities reported by employes may be the larger, certain work being completed on matter which has not been mailed. To reconcile this difference, the work itself should be on hand in the mailing room.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. Voucher for Postage]
=Postage Record.= The most important of all records in the mailing room is the postage record. Postage should be placed in charge of the stamp clerk, who should be made responsible for its accounting. The mail clerk is, in fact, a cashier, having the custody of the equivalent of cash in the form of postage stamps. Unless a very strict record is kept, there are abundant opportunities for thievery of stamps and, because they are almost as easily disposed of as cash, the temptation is strong. So great have the losses been from this source, that the government now permits business houses to identify its own stamps by means of perforations. There is now on the market a machine which perforates the initials or trade mark of a firm. The machine is very rapid in operation and stamps can be perforated in sheets very quickly. An enlarged reproduction of a stamp perforation is shown in Fig. 14.