Employees had not received adequate training to operate the machines, which led to malfunctions and equipment failures. A number of machines were not being used to their full potential, while several had not been put to use at all. The one-floor building design used only two supporting columns, maximizing floor space for the use of mail processing machines.Ī 1962 report to Congress revealed that the project was not adequately processing mail for the area. The name Turnkey was selected because the building was to be set to work processing mail with the "turn of a key." Unlike existing post office buildings, the Providence, RI building was constructed to fit the new, large machines. Known officially as "Project Turnkey," the post office of the future had more than its share of problems. While the stamp was a great success, the same could not be said for the project it celebrated. Copeland designed the stamp, and Charles A. These were further divided into four panes containing fifty stamps each for shipment to post offices. It was printed in dark blue and carmine ink on the Giori press in sheets of 200. The 4-cent stamp paid the domestic first-class letter rate. The success paved the way for future postal themes on stamps, including the 1963 5-cent City Mail Delivery issue, the 1971 8-cent United States Postal Service logo issue, and the 1974 Postal Service Employees issue. When the idea for a postage stamp publicizing the new facility was presented to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee on June 28, 1960, it was unanimously rejected as "obviously self-serving." The committee further predicted that the stamp would be "unpopular because it is promoting automation at a time when unemployment is increasing." Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield authorized the stamp anyway (the committee's findings are not binding), and it proved very popular: 833,306 copies of the stamp were sold on the first day of issue, and 458,237 first day covers were serviced. This stamp, which depicts an architect's rendering of the new facility, was the first US issue that directly celebrated the Post Office Department. It incorporated the first automatic, high-speed sorting, facing, and cancelling machines as well as three miles of conveyor belts that moved mail between processing areas within the plant and to the loading docks for transport. On October 20, 1960, the Post Office Department placed into service a new mail processing facility at Providence, Rhode Island, and widely promoted it as "the first automated post office in the United States." Intelex, a subsidiary of the International Telephone & Telegraph conglomerate, built the thirteen-acre facility under contract and turned it over to the Post Office Department ready to operate. 4-cent First Automated Post Office single
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