Postage meter in use in survey office

Among the new techniques in government administration which the U.S. Geological Survey has brought to Menlo Park is a postage meter.

All mail from the big two-story office building in Linfield Oaks will be paid for by the survey, in line with a new administration policy eliminating free mailing for U.S. agencies.

David Gallagher, in charge of the survey office, said the government’s various branches have been given the option of using stamps (or metered mail) or keeping track of the number of "penalty" envelopes used.

The Veterans Administration Hospital, also in Menlo Park, has decided on the latter system, a spokesman said. The new policy has a two-fold purpose--to put the post office’s accounting procedures on a more realistic basis, and to encourage economy in other departments.

Gallagher said "so many government agencies decided to use metered mail that the meter manufacturer has been "inundated with orders." The new policy "dovetails with the general economy attitude of the Eisenhower administration," he said.

Palo Alto Times
January 8, 1954

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