Mail Processing, Sorting and Distribution
This domain tests the journey of an article from the letter box to the doorstep, and the discipline that keeps accountable mail traceable at every handover.
Flow of mail
- Collection from letter boxes and counters, then at the office of posting: stamps cancelled, articles sorted, accountable items listed, mail bagged.
- Then mail office or Railway Mail Service, transit, destination mail office, delivery office, beat sorting and finally delivery.
- The Due Mail and Sorting List tells each office how its mail is sorted and despatched; it is the working reference at the sorting table.
- Closed bags are sealed for one destination; open or transit bags carry mail for several offices and travel with a mail list.
Accountable mail
- Registered, insured, value payable and COD articles travel in separate bundles with a mail list prepared in duplicate, signed at despatch, then checked and acknowledged at receipt.
- Any shortage is reported at once and noted on the mail list; silence at the time of receipt fixes responsibility on the receiving office.
Sorting by PIN
- The six-digit PIN narrows the destination: first digit the region, first two the sub-region, first three the sorting district, last three the delivery office. Outstation mail is sorted by PIN prefix; local mail is sorted by postman beat.
Worked example
A letter bears PIN 110001. Digit 1 marks the northern region, 11 Delhi, 110 the Delhi sorting district and 001 the delivery office. It is bagged for Delhi, not dropped into the local beat bundle, because the delivery office lies outside this town.
Traps
- Mixing accountable articles into ordinary bundles.
- Bagging without a label or with a wrong destination.
- Missing a letter box clearance and falsifying the clearance record.