HANDLING MAIL EFFECIENTLY

Business depends on swift channels of communication, one of the most important of which is the
mail. Mail will enter and leave your office through the postal service, inter-office mail or private
courier. Efficient handling of incoming and outgoing mail will make an office function smoothly
and effectively.

INCOMING MAIL

System and organisation are key words in processing the mail as it arrives in the office. Workers
can do their job better – and in less time – if the mail they receive is organised by priority and
type.

Sorting the mail.

         Processing the inward mail will be just one of the many jobs you must attend to during your
busy day at the front desk.

         No one will give you a peaceful half hour to attend to this very important function.
Therefore you should sort the mail into some sort of priority order before opening. This will
allow you to at least attend to some of the most important mail should the front desk become
very busy when the inward mail arrives. Sort into the following order:

a. Special service mail: this includes priority paid, certified, express courier, telegrams and
messengers delivery. If you have only a short time to deal with the mail, these items
should be dealt with first.

 
 b. Private or confidential mail: Place these to one side and deliver unopened. If you
accidentally open a private letter, reseal the envelope and write across it “Open in error”
and sign your initials. A personal apology is also in order.

c. Standard letter articles

d. Inter-office mail

e. Non-standard mail and parcels

f. Periodicals, magazines and advertising material.

 
 
Opening the Mail

a.       Tap the lower edge of the envelope on the desk so that the contents will fall to the bottom
and will not be cut when the envelope is opened.

b.      Place the envelopes face down with all flaps in the same direction.

c.       Open the letters by running them through a letter-opening machine, which slices a very
thin sliver of paper off the envelope. Open the envelopes on three sides, even if using a paper
knife. Do not remove the contents at this stage.

d.      Empty each envelope, checking carefully to see that everything has been removed.
 

e.       Fasten any enclosures to the letter. Attach any small enclosures to the front of the letter.
Enclosures larger than the letter should be attached to the back. If any enclosures mentioned
in the letter are missing, write “no enclosure received” beside the enclosure notation at the
foot of the letter. Notify some responsible person in the office to ensure that appropriate
action is taken.

f.        Be sure the name and return address of the sender are given in the letter before
discarding the envelope or going ahead to the next one. If these are not given, the envelope
should be attached to the back of the letter. The envelope may also be attached if you notice a
discrepancy in the date of the letter and the postmark of if required as proof of being posted
before a certain closing date.

g.       Enter remittances of cash or cheques in the remittance book and forward to the Account
Department or set aside.

h.       Mend any contents that accidentally cut or torn when the envelope was opened.

Time stamping, reading and annotating mail.

1.      Date and time stamp each article in a conspicuous position, taking cares not to obliterate
any information on the article.

2.      Scan the article. Sometimes letters are incorrectly addressed to wrong executives or
alternatively no particular executive or department may be indicated in the address. You will
have to read the letter to determine who should handle the matter. If you are responsible for
maintaining appointment calendars for executives, you may make pencil notes in the margins
of the letters indicating that appointments have been noted. This is referred to as annotating
correspondence.
3.      Make a note of any mail being sent under separate cover on a “mail expected” record
sheet.

E.g.

Date Article From Whom Date From Received

Sent Whom

 
nd
2 . Brochers Creative Denim Fashion 26th. Alexander 7th. July
July Ltd. June Daniel
3rd. Pattern Innovative Denim Ltd. th
29  June Xavier de 9th. July
July Burgh
3rd. Denim Fabric Research Ltd, 25th. Zal Zalis 6th July
July Sample Melbourne Officer June
           
           
           

Distributing the Mail

1.      Mail should be placed in clearly marked or colour-coded mail folders. Some officers use
different folders marked “Rush”, “Read” and “Regular mail”. Unopened letters should be
placed on top of the mail for each person.

2.      Place the mail on each executive’s desk or in the special place indicated by the
organisation’s policy for inward mail.

 
3.      Routine mails which need to be circulated to more than one executive or department should
have a routing slip attached. Routing slips are designed so information may be passed from
person to person (within departments) or from department to department

           
ROUTING SLIP

 
Department Staff Date received Date sent

 
Accounts Mohd Khushairi 14.4. .............. 15.4. ..............
Personnel Mohd. Faizal 15.4. .............. 17.4. ..............
Admin Yus Faiz Amni 17.4. .............. 17.4. ..............
Sales Zulfahmi Akmal 17.4. .............. 18.4................
       

4.      Inter-office mail or confidential mail to be circulated to more than one executive or section
may be placed in a reusable circulation envelope.

INTERDEPARTMENTAL

MAIL

Envelope to be delivered to last

addressee. Please cross out your name
before reusing.

 
DO NOT SEAL
Name Department

 
Shifa Auni Accounting
 Fatin Izatie Marketing
Aidi Shafiq Sales
Do not destroy until all

space have been used.

5. If articles to be circulated are important, a routing slip should not be used, but a photocopy made and
each executive or section given a copy.

Electronic Mail

Modern electronic equipment is providing faster, more efficient service. Electronic mail is used when
mail is urgent or when speed is essential. Therefore, all incoming electronic mail should be given priority
treatment.

Postal Services

The amount of postage to be prepaid depends on the size and weight of the article, the destination and the
service required. A good source of the various classifications is the Postal Guide issued by the Post
Office. You will also require an up-to-date postal charges guide to determine the cost of postage on each
mail article.

 
OUTGOING MAIL

Handling outgoing mail

You should have on hand the following:

1.       a postal guide

2.       an up-to-date postal charge guide

3.       special stickers for airmail

4.       accurate scales for weighing parcels and envelopes

5.       an outgoing mail register or postage book

6.       paper for wrapping, string, labels etc.

7.       A postcode book

8.       A standard letter gauge

9.       A franking machine and / or postage stamps.

Checking outgoing mail

Make sure:

1.       all correspondence is signed

2.       enclosures are attached

3.       envelopes are correctly addresses and all contents belong to the envelop
4.       material is correctly folded for into the envelope

5.       parcels are wrapped carefully and securely

6.       and special service stickers are affixed to the envelope.

Types of Correspondence
 
Records Office staff must deal promptly and accurately with many different
types of correspondence. Incoming correspondence will reach the Records
Office in a number of different ways. Some will come through the traditional
mail, some by hand, and some by telex, fax or electronic mail. There will
also be differences in the way in which items are addressed. Some will be
addressed to a ministry, department or agency and some to individuals
either by name or by title of office. Other items may be inadequately or
illegibly addressed. A smaller number of items will bear security or privacy
markings, such as ‘confidential’ or ‘personal.’ Some mail may contain
cheques, money or other valuables which will need to be carefully recorded
and accounted for in the Records Office.
 
Opening Mail
 
Mail which is:
 

 Marked personal or confidential or is addressed to an officer of

the Ministry/Department by personal name, not by title or
position should be left unopened and passed on to the addressee
immediately.

 
Mail which is:
 

 An obvious bill, receipt, statement or invoice

 Marked return to sender in cases when the sender’s name is
clearly identifiable
  Intended for a non – administrative Department 

 
is left unopened and is placed in the appropriate dip/tray for further sorting
and delivery. All offices should have at least one dip/tray identified for
incoming mail into which unopened regular external mail is deposited.
 
Rules for handling ‘confidential’ and ‘personal’ letters and classified
documents should be followed always. (See Also : Handling Classified
Documents and Files). All other mail should be opened and datestamped as
soon as it is received by the Records Office. During this process letters
should be kept in a box file or other suitable container.
 
Slit open envelopes across the top. Care must be taken to ensure the
contents of letters are not damaged when the envelopes are slit. Many
enclosures are received loose or separated from their covering documents.
Attach such enclosures to the relevant documents, taking care not to
damage cheques, certificates or similar items. All enclosures must be noted
on the covering documents. This is particularly important when the
enclosures are valuable or are personal papers.
 
Certificates, deeds and other legal documents require special care. Place
such documents in separate envelopes, noting the contents and the
reference number of the file on the outside. Record these in a register or
Valuables Book and store in a safe place. Cross‐reference on the file.
 
Registered Mail
 

 Incoming registered mail is picked up from the Post Office by a

Records Office messenger at the set time. The messenger is required
to sign for registered mail.
 The registered mail is then delivered, along with regular incoming mail
to the Mail Desk in the Records Office. Procedures for registered mail
are similar to ordinary mail described above.
 After registered mail or unregistered mail with cash has been
processed it is hand delivered to the addressee by the Mail Desk Clerk,
who ensures that the addressee signs in the Valuables Book as
evidence that the mail was received.
 Once all signatures have been obtained, the Valuables Book is
returned to the Treasury Cashier who reconciles the signatures with
the money received
 
Inward Correspondence Register and Mail Folder
 
After the mail has been opened and all enclosures accounted for, each letter
or memorandum must be registered by a designated officer in the Inward
Correspondence Register. All columns of the Register must be completed.
The details to be entered initially are:
 

1. Serial number (the next number in sequence)

2. Date of the letter
3. Date the letter was received
4. From whom the letter was received
5. Reference given by the writer of the letter
6. Subject of the letter

 
The Head of the Records Office or a designated officer will decide how items
are to be handled. For example:‐
 

1. Mark routine documents with filing instructions and pass to the officer
responsible for filing.
2. Place letters which are not routine in mail folders for circulation. The
list will vary from agency to agency, but it is important that it is as
short as possible so that the mail folder is returned to the Records
Office quickly. 

 
Officers on the circulation list should attend to the documents in the mail
folder promptly. They should mark those letters that they would like to deal
with personally or that they would like referred to their staff by indicating to
whom they are to be sent. All such directions should be initialled and dated
by the officer making them. Letters may not be removed from the mail
folder. All must be returned to the Records Office for filing.
 
Where there are more than one circulation of mail each day, correspondence
delivered after a circulation has been dispatched, should be held over and
included in the subsequent batch, except for any that are marked ‘urgent’
which must be delivered immediately. Records Offices receiving mail once a
day only, may find it necessary to have a second circulation to deal with
hand delivered mail.
 
When the mail folder is returned to the Records Office the documents should
be placed immediately on the appropriate files. Before the files are passed to
the nominated action officers, Records Office staff should note on the
relevant File Transit Sheet the name or title of the action officer and the date
of transit (See ‐ Section 7). The following information should be recorded in
the Inward Correspondence Register:
 

1. Name or title of the action officer to whom the file was passed, and the
date the letter was filed
2. Number of the file on which the letter was placed

 
The file must be delivered to the relevant action officers without delay.
 
Mail Containing Valuables
 
Post containing or likely to contain, cheques, bank drafts, money orders or
other valuable items must be carefully safeguarded from the time it is
received.
 
A written record of all postal remittances received each day must be
prepared (in addition to the Inward Correspondence Register) and signed by
the post opener. A Valuables Book or Remittance Register is used for this
purpose. Records Office staff should record the following information in the
Remittance Register:
 

1. Serial number
2. Date received
3. Name of person sending remittance
4. Amount
5. Details of remittance
6. Cheque number/ Bank sort code (cheques only)
7. Name and signature of officer opening remittance

 
Each sheet of the register must be serially numbered. Cash received should
be counted and noted in the register as well as on the accompanying
document by the post‐opener. Erasures and pencils entries must not be
made in the register. A wrong entry may be cancelled only by ruling it
through and correcting it with a new entry that leaves the original entry
legible. All such alterations must be initialled jointly by the post‐opener and
the supervising officer.
 
Examine all payable instruments (cheques, money orders, postal orders,
bank drafts and so on) to ensure that:‐
 

 the amount agrees with that on the remittance advice slip or other
accompanying document
 the amounts in words and figures agree
 the date and payee details are completed correctly
 the remittances are signed (excluding postal and payable orders)

 
If the purpose of which a remittance was sent cannot be identified, include it
with the daily banking and take action to obtain the necessary information
as quickly as possible.
 
In cases where money apparently has been omitted or differs in amount
from that stated on documents received by post, a note must be made on
the document jointly by the post‐opener and the supervising officer. The
person who sent the remittance is then advised at once that there is an
error. The cheque may be banked in the meantime.
 
Telegrams and Faxes
 

 Place telegram in folders marked ‘URGENT’ immediately after they

have been registered. These folders must then be passed without
delay to a senior officer for directions on how they are to be treated.
 An increasing quantity of mail is received by fax. As ‘junk’ mail is
sometimes sent by fax, check that faxes received concern genuine
office business. The unnecessary use of fax should be discouraged and
care should be taken in deciding whether faxes need to be treated as
urgent. Routine non‐urgent correspondence should not be sent by fax.
The Head of the Records Office should consult the appropriate action
officer if in doubt.
 Faxed material tends to fade if printed on thermal paper. Once it has
been established that a fax concerns official business, the fax should
be photocopied and the copy placed in the mail folder or on the
appropriate file as necessary. The fax, as received, should then be
placed on a file kept for original faxes.
  All incoming faxes on the fax file should be destroyed after six months
as a matter of routine. If the original of the document faxed is
received at a later date in the Records Office, it should also be placed
on the appropriate file. Both the photocopy of the fax and the original
document should be retained on the file as the photocopy may have
had comments written on it by action officers.

 
Electronic Mail
 

 Increasingly more communication is being received by electronic mail

on action officers’ desk computers. However, many e‐mail messages
are routine or unrelated to official business and will not need to be
retained once they have been read.
 Officers sending or receiving electronic mail must decide whether each
item of e‐mail received or dispatched concerns official business and
needs to be printed so that a copy is placed on file.
 In all cases when incoming electronic mail is printed for filing, any
outgoing reply should also be printed and filed with the incoming
message where possible.
 E‐mail messages should relate to one subject only to facilitate filing. If
an e‐mail relates to several subjects, copies will need to be made and
placed on the appropriate files. ((Rules for filing and retaining email
electronically are being revised and developed continuously)

The processes of outgoing mail are as follows:

 Drafting the mail. The outgoing mail is prepared by the concerned section or
authority. ...
 Collecting the mail. The mailing department collects all the outgoing mail from
concerned section or departments. ...
 Recording the mail. ...
 Stamping the mail. ...
 Dispatching the mail