Ulla, I cited from memory but I am sure about the number. Now, I looked into the article "Zustelldienst" in the Handwörterbuch des Postwesens, ed. by Wilhem Küsgen et al., Berlin: Julius Springer, 1927, pp. 720-724. The Handwörterbuch was the German Reichspost's official encyclopedia. The article gives the legal obligations (Postordnung, § 36) of transporting letters, small parcels, etc. to the recipient in the early 1920s: as a rule the schedule is for 2 daily deliveries. However, in cities with strong traffic 3 daily deliveries may be scheduled, and in special cases also 4 deliveries. More than 4 deliveries were in no case not allowed. The Postordnung rules the everyday actions of the mail delivery. Therefore, the aforementioned maximum frequencies can be understood as those really in use. When late in WW II the frequency of delivery in Berlin was reduced to one per day due to the heavy air raids the public judged this as an inacceptably low quality of service . For which work do you need the info ? Cordialement Frank Ulla Bunz wrote:
Frank,
Do you happen to have a reference on the Berlin tidbit, or similar postal schedules in former times?
Thanks,
Ulla
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Ulla Bunz
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication
Rutgers University
4 Huntington Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Email: bunz@scils.rutgers.edu <mailto:bunz@scils.rutgers.edu>
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-----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin@aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org] On Behalf Of Frank Thomas Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 9:53 AM
In Berlin at the end of the 19th century, "you got mail" up to 6 times a day. There is an entire, living world before the Internet came unto Earth.
Frank
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