Mail rejects end up on ‘nixie desk’

You see them everywhere – on street corners, in front of grocery stores – familiar blue mailboxes waiting to receive your bills, birthday cards and bank payments.

But what if you drop in something unintentionally? Something like an envelope full of cash on its way to the bank, or your mother’s secret lasagna recipe, or your grocery list?

What happens to mail that’s not really mail? Lisa Nystuen knows. The 23-year Postal Service veteran began her career as a clerk in the processing plant.

The knowledge she gained there has been vital in her current position as customer relations coordinator. She is the person who works to help customers retrieve car keys or wedding rings – anything that’s placed in the mail by mistake.

Throughout the day, trucks collect the mail from the “snorkel” boxes. If something is inadvertently posted, Nystuen advises customers to call or visit any post office branch immediately to report the problem.

“Acting quickly is the most important thing of all,” Nystuen said. “If the collection hasn’t been made, we can physically go through the mail.”

Often the drivers can catch nonmail items like keys or IDs as they empty the boxes. Once the mail has been picked up, retrieving items gets more complicated but not impossible.

The gathered mail isn’t going too far – yet. The trucks deliver it to the Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center near the airport. The noisy, bustling facility hums with activity all night long.

“This is when the mail moves,” said Nystuen, “When all of us are sleeping.”

She pointed out 56 huge bay doors with trucks pulling in and out delivering bins of mail.

“The doors are in continual use throughout the night,” she said. “We process mail for all of Eastern Washington and northern Idaho.”

Mail is sorted nonstop. Magazines, parcels, oversize letters and regular mail are routed to the proper conveyer belts to be canceled, sorted and shipped.

Though the procedures are almost entirely automated, Nystuen estimates 100 to 150 employees work at the plant each night.

Speed and safety are top priorities. The canceling machine handles 10 letters per second.

“We have to have everything out by 6 a.m.,” she said. “We process about 300,000 pieces of mail per day. Over Christmas it is rises to 800,000 pieces.”

So locating an unmarked envelope full of cash may seem like an impossible task. Not according to Nystuen.

“I’m a hopeless romantic,” she said with a grin. “I think there’s a good chance.”

Any mail that is deemed undeliverable ends up in bins labeled REJECT in bold letters. Those bins are then taken to the “nixie desk.” Nixie simply means nixed mail.

On the way to the nixie desk, Nysteun pointed out rolling shelves of express mail. This is the premium service the Postal Service offers and the best way to mail unusual items, like the aerated cartons of two-dozen live chicks that sat waiting to be shipped out.

“We also ship worms, reptiles and ducks,” Nystuen said.

Two busy clerks work at the nixie desk throughout the night. Postal items end up here for a variety of reasons: damage, insufficient postage or incorrect address.

On this night the reject bins also contained a handful of loose change, car keys and several pieces of jewelry.

Nixie clerk Lois Stewart has worked for the Postal Service for 14 years. She said employees have seen all kinds of things come across their desks.

“Wedding photos, prescription medication, clothing, shoes,” she said with a shrug. “We also see driver’s licenses. Those we can just mail out.”

The clerks package the IDs and mail them to whatever address is listed.

Sorting through the stacks of letters and trying to decipher where the mail is meant to go can be quite a challenge, but Stewart said, “I like it. There’s always things to do. We keep busy.”

As for the nonmail items, Stewart said, “If the value is under $10 and there’s no identification, we’ll toss it. The rest is shipped to St. Paul.”

St. Paul Minn., is home to one of the Postal Service’s mail recovery centers, commonly called dead letter offices.

Unfortunately, once an item has been sent to St. Paul, it becomes much more difficult to locate. That is why acting quickly to find lost mail is so important.

“If you can let us know within one to five days, we stand a pretty good chance of getting a hold of it,” Nystuen said,

Taking time to avoid simple errors is the best way to prevent your mail from ending up on the nixie desk.

As Stewart sorted through stacks of letters, she said, “It’s nice when we can put addresses and items together and get them on their way. It doesn’t happen very often, but it’s satisfying when it does.”