A visit to Australia Post Sorting Facility

About 12 years ago my Dad had the priviledge of going to a post sorting facility and told us all about it, because of his interresting storries it is something I have been wanting to do ever since.  Whilest in New Zealand we tried to organise a trip but could not get permission for our group to go on a tour. Two months ago I saw the trip advertised on a homeschool email letter I jumped right at it and reserved a spot for Sir N and myself. 

Unfortunately we could not take photographs on tour but I did manage to take a few outside and of the models of the facility.

Some of what we learned:

• Post that is unusually shaped is still hand sorted today.
• Hand sorters sort mail at a minimum rate of 25 letters a minute.
• Post has a 24 hour turn around in Melbourne.
• There is a substance embedded in stamps that the machine can read and know if the correct amount of postage is attached to a letter.
• The facility works mainly at night.
• They process on average 6 000 000 items per night.
• This rate climbs to 11 000 000 items per night during the Christmas season.
• The facility operates six nights a week.
• The facility operates Sunday night till Friday night.
• Parcel post as a bussiness is growing by 15 % a year.
• Standard personal mail is dropping by approximately 4 % a year.
• Unclaimed mail is kept for a year. 
• After a year unclaimed post is sent to auction and the proceeds are donated to charity.
• Last year this auction collected AU $ 3 000 000 for charity.
• The strangest item posted and delivered was a banana.
• Redirection orders are handeled by the postie on your round.
• Around 20 USB keys are destroyed in each sorting machine each night due to being to thick and posted in a standard envelope.

Here are our photos:

Painting in the reception area

Olde post box at reception door.

We had to wear visitor safety vests.

Facility Model

Australia Post trucks at the depo.

What was Sir N's favourite part ?

• When we saw the letters shooting past on one of the machines.
• Looking at the model of the facility.
• Seeing the man polishing the sensors on the post carrier up near the roof.
• Being allowed to play with the rollers on the table
• I liked seeing the outside where the trucks come to fetch the post.
• I liked the lift which took the boxes of letters up to the roof to go on the conveyer.
• I liked looking at the conveyer up near the roof.
• I liked that they still hand sort today.

 Blessings

Tuesdays Treasures (1-8)

Little Bears Trousers

 When Little Bear gets up one morning, his trousers are gone. Where could they be? Old Bear doesn't know. Sailor, Camel and Rabbit have seen them and used them in some un-trouserly ways. But no one can tell Little Bear where his trousers are now. When Little Bear finally discovers his trousers, even he is surprised at what he finds.

This book is one of Sir N's favourites at the moment.  I love the feel of all of Jane Hisseys books. Each and every picture is full of texture and detail, and are so beautiful little people spend hours looking them over.  My first two loved her books as well and as a result we have a few of her titles around the house!

Details

• ISBN13: 9780099265436
• Language: English
• Pages: 32

Other books we have enjoyed:

• Old Bear (1988)
• Little Bear Lost (1989)
• Jolly Tall (1990)
• Jolly Snow (1991)
• Hoot (1996)
• Little Bears Alphabet (2000)
• Old Bear's All-together Painting (2001)

Who are some Authors you and your family have enjoyed because of their beautiful paintings ?

To Label or Not to Label ??

I counted the other day and realised that I have been a Sonlight customer for thirteen years this year! Over the years I have collected a beautiful library of books courtesy of Sonlight.

 

Personally I have never wanted to label my books. Me put stickers on a book ? No I don't think so.

 

About three years ago I began feeling extremely frustrated with not being able to locate books I knew I had or finding them in the oddest spots on the shelf after hours of searching. In fact I was so frustrated that in desperation I finally gave in and ordered labels from Sonlight. I spent hours drawing lines, cutting strips and putting them onto my books then back onto the shelf. It has been well worth the effort and time investment that it took to do.

 

Now when I pick up a book I know exactly where it comes from and so do the rest of the family.

 

This is the process I use.

 

 

 I gather the books together that need labeling.These are the books I ordered to update my Core A a few of these are double ups.

 

 

• Next I grab the book lists from my Instructor Guides as well as the Book Label sheet from Sonlight.  As you can see I grabbed some scissors as I thought I would need these but Sonlight has pre-cut the book labels so it made the job of labeling soooooo easy this year. 
• Next I number the books on the book list and then I write the numbers onto the book label.
• I then attach the numbered label to the book

 

 

I have numbered the books because it makes it easier to put them back in the "correct" spot on the shelf and easier to locate when I need it while using a Core. This process has made storing and locating my books so much easier.

 

  

 

Here I put my Core A from 2011 and the balance of my Core K from 1998.  There are a few titles "missing" due to being in storage till the end of September but I shant be needing them till October.

 

 

This is a small shelf of books in the living area. This bookshelf holds a lot of memories for me.  It used to be in my parents home and hold our encyclopedia set which I really enjoyed using. My parents bought the shelf and encyclopedias as a wedding present. 

I decided to gather a range of books from Core P 3/4, Core P 5/6, Core A and a few others from the larger book shelves in the rumpus room and keep them in one handy spot, as I tend to forget what I have available. 

I will take you on a tour of my four big book shelves in two months time ! My family often tease me about my love of books. My dad blessed me with three custom made floor to ceiling shelves which he designed and made for me and a friend in New Zealand built me one for small paper backs. Enough of that till a later post. I can't show you at the moment as they are in storage.  My aim is to sort my collection and blog about it later.

  

How do you organise your library ?

 

Blessings