Before any letters are answered, the necessary notations should be made on all letters requiring information, and the letters sent to the proper departments. The very first letters answered should be those that must be referred to another department. These should be not only dictated first, but transcribed and forwarded to the next department before further dictation is given. These methods will go far toward solving the problem of the prompt handling of correspondence. Most large houses receive complaints of delay in answering letters, and when these complaints are investigated the causes of delay are found to be divided between a lack of method in handling correspondence and ignorance or carelessness on the part of the complainant. In any well-managed concern everything possible will be done to overcome the first-named defect, even to the extent of providing a system which will, at least partially, overcome the defects due to the latter cause. As to the complaints due to ignorance or carelessness, it is found that at least 75% of all complaints received come within this classification. In many cases complaints come from persons whose correspondence is limited to a half-dozen letters, or less, a day. They fail to appreciate the difficulties of the correspondent whose dictation averages a hundred letters a day; being unaccustomed to the departmental plan of organization, they do not realize that each subject about which they write must be referred to one certain department. And so, a single letter contains an order, a remittance, and a request for some special information, and, because he does not receive a reply covering all subjects referred to in his letter by return mail, the customer complains of delay. It is entirely legitimate to politely request a customer to use a separate sheet for each subject--as orders, remittances, complaints, etc.--but since not all will comply, some such method as has been described is needed to insure against unreasonable delay in handling letters that require the attention of several departments. In another class is the letter which, for some reason, cannot be answered at once. An example is the letter to a manufacturer, asking for a price on a special machine. Before a price can be named, the engineering department must make a careful estimate of the cost, and it may be necessary to secure quotations on some special material needed. This means an unavoidable delay, but the prospective customer should not be left in a state of expectancy--the letter should be acknowledged immediately, and the cause of the delay explained. The customer then feels that he is receiving attention, while if no reply is made until full information can be given, a competitor more courteous may secure the order.