Getting Mail from One Point to the Next
Have you ever thought how your simple online clothing purchase is transmitted and received and finally sent to you in the mail? From extensive packaging machinery to simple labels and weighing, your package may go through a lot before it is mailed to you. case sealers, inspections, and even x-rays have to take place before your package is loaded up with others on a truck and delivered to your door. Packages are sometimes very fragile and take longer to transport, while others travel via express mail and show up to your home in a few days. Sometimes packages can be delivered the next day through a super express mail service to your door and that is very quick compared to twenty years ago.
First, a company that you mail an order to sends the order to be filled by whoever prepares what goes into packaging. This can be very simple for clothing companies, but when it comes to food products, some companies have to prepare packages in large warehouses with lots of stock that can be hard to organize. After the package is prepared it has to be labeled with a sender and receiver address. This is usually done these days with a computer operated labeling method. Your address and other valid information are already in the computer and it simply prints out a stamp or sticker that is put on your package.
After this, the stamp has to be manually applied in the right place. Then the package needs a sending stamp just like a regular letter. The numbers and size of this stamp is generally determined by the weight of the package or what is inside of it. If something in a package is heavier, it will require more stamps. If something is not heavy it will require fewer stamps. These kinds of stamps are basically representing the money that you have to pay to make sure that a package is sent out, kind of like a letter, only bigger.
After this a company generally has a storage area where all of the packages that need to be mailed are stored until the outgoing mail representative has arrived. At this point the mail goes into the hand of a United States Postal Service worker who will bring it back to the main sorting station with all of the regular mail. The survey then goes through weight and x-ray machines and then it is manually checked to make sure there is an accurate number of stamps. After this, outgoing mail is organized based on zip code and the package will go wherever it is meant to go. The mail carrier for that area will take care of the package and make sure that it arrives at your door when it is supposed to, and in good condition.
If you have never thought about this process and how much work goes into it, it can be quite interesting. For each step of the process there is a different job and a strict way of sending mail in the U.S.