National Postal Museum Exhibit "Systems At Work"

The U.S. National Postal Museum has opened a new exhibit that addresses changes to the U.S. postal system that have occurred over the past 200 years. The exhibit can be viewed online and it includes an interesting video on modern-day automated mail sorting (you must "enter the exhibit" to view the video.

http://www.npm.si.edu/systemsatwork/

Nice link. It shows some of the impressive mail sorting equipment in use up to today.

In fact, I recall reading that the USPS has recently spent tens of millions of dollars in the purchase and/or lease of sophisticated mail sorting machines, only to have to either buy out of the leases or sell them off for a fraction of their worth, with the announced closures of mail sorting facilities in 2012. It seems as though the USPS accountants didn't look at their overall long range planning when investing in such expensive equipment.

Thanks for the link Steve, it's interesting to watch sophisticated machinery at work.
I'm taking one of my nephews to the Museum of Crime and Punishment over the holidays and may drag him to the Postal Museum for a look.

Bill, I hate to admit it but I still haven't been to the Postal Museum, even though I've lived in the DC Metro area since July of 1999. After having seen the speed at which letters move through the system, I can understand why the spray-on cancellations look so bad.