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Just Look at All Those Packages …
Tribune photo published December 17, 1951

Just look at all those packages is what Clark Whitney seems to be thinking.  Piled high on the loading platform behind the post office, they are only a small, very small, portion of the mail that came in by train early this morning.

Permanent and temporary help worked at fever pitch to get the packages, letters, and Christmas cards sorted and on their way before another trainload arrived about 9 a.m.  Unanimous opinion at the post office is that this year's mail will probably exceed the two peak years experienced in 1950 and 1949.

But even as workers struggled with incoming mail in the area behind the windows, another last-minute rush of business was going on in front of the windows in the post office lobby.

Incoming mail that is expected to be the peak for the 1951 Christmas season literally flooded the post office about 4 a.m. today.  More that 350 sacks of mail were unloaded from an early morning train coming from Chicago and the east.  When taken to the post office and dumped onto the workroom floor, the pile reached above the heads of workmen.

Climbing over a mountain of mail is Rollin Sawyer, 821 Wilson, who as a temporary helper, gave an assist this morning to other workers at the post office.  Today is expected to be the peak day for both incoming and outgoing mail.

Falling snow reminded many that Christmas is only a week away and packages have to be mailed early to get to their destinations.  Although the deadline for "early" mailing of packages was Saturday, lines in front of the parcel post windows started forming early this morning.  Also among the crowd were many persons mailing Christmas cards.