Mail HandlingMail HandlingUnit 2DUnit 2D

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Learning Outcomes Features of a Mail room Caledonian Health & Fitness Mail room Equipment Types of Mail Incoming Mail Outgoing Mail Internal Mail Electronic Communications E-Mail Fax Advantages and Disadvantages of ele

ctronic Communications

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Features of a Mail Room The Mail room is essential in every

modern office as it is responsible for ensuring that information is processed as quickly and efficiently as possible

The equipment that is now available to organisations is more advanced and as a result mail rooms are a lot more efficient

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Features of a Mail Room Standardised pieces of equipment

which are used in mail rooms are: DATE STAMP

• This is to stamp the mail when it arrives to ensure that all information is processed quickly

LETTER OPENER• It is essential that this is used to prevent

any enclosures being ripped by accident STAPLER

• If there are any ENCLOSURES in the envelope then all pages must be stapled together to ensure that no information is lost

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Caledonian Health & Fitness

Mr Nichols introduces Mr Burns to the newly refurbished mail room and describes to him why the NEW equipment is more effective than the old equipment

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Mail Room EquipmentMr Nichols has recently bought the following equipment:

FRANKING MACHINE This is used to date and stamp the mail The company’s log can also be affixed to

the package which means that the receiver is able to easily identify who it is from

This is a more suitable method when dealing with large amounts of mail as beforehand the Mail Room Assistant would have to lick and apply stamps individually

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Mail Room Equipment Voicemail

Messages are able to be left out with normal office hours

Staff can be trained to record messages and deliver them to the appropriate employee

This is more suitable than relying on a written message as they can be easily lost and can only be delivered when there are employees present

Fax and E-mail BOTH METHODS ARE DISCUSSED IN

GREATER DETAIL LATER ON IN THE PRESENTATION

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Group ActivityAsk permission from your

teacher first!!! In what ways are mail delivered to your

school? How is the mail sorted? Whose responsibility is it to deliver the

mail? How is mail sent out with your school?

Create a report using Microsoft Word on how effective the Mail room is in your school and identify ways in which you would improve the

current methods used

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Activities Complete the following tasks

in your Activities booklet:

Question 1: Mail room equipment

Question 2: Fax Machine

Question 3: New Mail room – Cellular Office?

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At Caledonian Health & Fitness information is communicated in a variety of ways. There are 3 main ways in which mail is processed:

INCOMINGINCOMING Mail This mail is RECEIVED by the organisation

OUTGOINGOUTGOING Mail This mail is SENT OUTWITH the organisation

INTERNALINTERNAL Mail This mail is SENT WITHIN the organisation

Types of Mail

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Mr Millar has set up the following procedure to deal with INCOMING mail:

1. Open the mail carefully – there may be ENCLOSURES inside eg cheques; certificates etc

2. Record any REMITTANCES in the REMITTANCES BOOK – this is where money has been sent into the organisation

3. Check and sort mail into DEPARTMENTS and DATE STAMP all mail

4. Give a CODE to each piece of mail – this helps the mail to be delivered to the correct department quickly

5. Place in Department/Employee’s pigeon hole in the mail room

6. Deliver to correct Department/Employee

INCOMING Mail

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Mr Millar has set up the following procedure to deal with OUTGOING mail: COLLECT mail from all Departments SORT mail into the correct categories eg

First Class; Second Class; Recorded Delivery

WEIGH the mail Affix the correct STAMP to the mail or

use the FRANKING MACHINE Deliver the mail to the POST OFFICE

OUTGOING Mail

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Mr Millar is responsible for ensuring that all internal mail between the 5 functional areas is processed efficiently. He has set up the following procedure to deal with INTERNAL mail:

1. Collect mail from employees’ OUT trays 2. URGENT MAIL should be delivered

immediately3. Make sure that the mail is labelled correctly ie

that it says who it is FROM and who it is GOING TO

4. Make sure that PRIVATE / PERSONAL / CONFIDENTIAL mail is sealed in an envelope

5. If the mail is going to MORE THAN 1 person photocopy the document and attach a CIRCULATION SLIP

INTERNAL Mail

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Activities Complete the following tasks

in your Activities booklet:

Question 4: Main types of mail

Question 5: Incoming mail

Question 6: Create procedure for Outgoing mail

Question 7: Internal mail

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Technology is constantly changing and improving. The increase in technology has led to a significant improvement in communications in modern offices.

The electronic forms of communications which

have revolutionised the way in which people work are

the following:

E-Mail

Fax machine

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

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E-MAIL is a very popular method of sending mail both internally and externally. In fact ALL

businesses today feel that without e-mail they would be at a huge disadvantage as it is a very

fast and efficient method of communicating.

INTERNAL E-MAILINTERNAL E-MAIL The organisation’s own computer network is known as

an INTRANET. Messages are sent from from one computer to another

using e-mail software and the Intranet

EXTERNAL E-MAILEXTERNAL E-MAIL Messages are sent from one computer to another using

e-mail software and the INTERNET The Internet is a global network – it means you can

communicate with anyone in the whole world!

E- Mail

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Mr Millar must inform all employees to carry out the following procedure:

Check mail box (INBOX) at regular intervals

Deal with URGENT mail straight away – urgent e-mail is indicated by having a red exclamation mark next to it

If the e-mail is to be read by more than one person make sure that all names are copied on to the address

A DISTRIBUTION LIST can be created if you contact the same group of people on a regular basis. For example your teacher could create a distribution list for your class and e-mail tasks or homework to you all!

What Procedure will Mr Millar use for INCOMING E-

Mail?

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Mr Millar must inform all employees to carry out the following procedure:

Check that the correct address is entered into the e-mail message

Make sure that all attachments have been added (if appropriate)

Identify the nature of the message ie if it is urgent affix the red flag so that the recipient knows to deal with the message immediately

If you are using a distribution list make sure that ALL members are added to ensure no-one is left out

What Procedure will Mr Millar use for OUTGOING E-

Mail?

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The Fax machine is used to COPY a document

The document can contain text, graphics or photographs

Once the images have been copied the fax sends it electronically over a phone line anywhere in the world!

Fax machines can be used to SEND and RECEIVE information

Most organisations install a separate phone line for the fax machine to ensure that messages can be sent and received quickly

The FAX Machine

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Mr Millar must inform all employees to carry out the following procedure for OUTGOING faxes:

Make sure that the sender’s name, organisation, fax and phone number, and number of pages being sent is clearly shown on the fax cover letter

Collect the TRANSMISSION REPORT to confirm that all the information has been sent

What Procedure will Mr Millar use for dealing with OUTGOING FAXES?

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Mr Millar must inform all employees to carry out the following procedure for INCOMING faxes:

Make sure that the fax machine is checked on a regular basis to prevent paper being trapped

Check the number of pages RECEIVED to the number of pages stated on the Fax cover sheet

Staple all the pages of an incoming fax together

Make sure that all incoming faxes are delivered to the Department/Employee as soon as possible. It is important to note that if the fax is marked URGENT that it must be delivered to the employee immediately

What Procedure will Mr Millar use for dealing with INCOMING FAXES?

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What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of using

Electronic Communication?

Cheaper

Quicker than the Postal service

Able to send the message/document to multiple group of people

People are able to respond immediately to the message

System may have a virus or crash resulting in important information being lost

It is very expensive to buy the hardware and software required to communicate in this way

Staff need to be trained

Some may feel afraid of the change and work against it causing disharmony in the workplace

Advantages

Disadvantages

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Activities Complete the following tasks

in your Activities booklet:

Question 8: E-mail

Question 9: Fax machine

Question 10: Use of advanced technology