Aside from the business at the special post office, there was naturally a considerable increase in business at the post offices in the busiest parts of the city, and particularly in the West End. Therefore, in the period from July 20th to August 20th, 66 additional offices for the sale of stamps
The special postage stamps issued by the German Post Office on the occasion of the Olympic Games. Eight stamps, each with a different cancellation stamp.
were opened in different parts of the city, and the number of salesmen was increased, especially near the Reich Sport Field and at the Municipal Railway and Underground Railway stations. Postal employees were also stationed in the municipal traffic kiosks, where they sold stamps and gave information concerning all postal matters. This measure proved very helpful. In Potsdam, which was visited by great numbers of the Olympic guests, a corresponding information desk was also created in the post office. Linguistically qualified employees were placed behind the counters in the busiest post offices. Thus the numerous foreigners who came to the post offices could also be accommodated without difficulty.
There was a considerable increase especially in the number of letters sent, due to the crowds of visitors from outside Berlin. In order to assure prompt despatch of this mail, numerous letter boxes were installed at the Reich Sport Field, its entrances, and at the other competition sites, in addition to the letter boxes at the special post offices. The intervals of time between the collections from these additional letter boxes varied according to requirements. The mail collected from these letter boxes was given the appropriate cancellation and taken to the competent Berlin letter sorting offices. Supplementary and additional night collections were made from all street letter boxes in Greater Berlin. The total number of outgoing letters in the period from August 1st to 16th was 102,000,000, or 17,000,000 more than the normal number. The measures taken (the establishment of special cancellation offices, the increase in personnel at the letter sorting offices, increased night service and extension of the office dealing with foreign post) resulted in the smooth functioning of the task of handling the mail, even though this work was made considerably more difficult on account of the greatly increased number of letters addressed to foreign countries.
The transportation of mail in the city and to the railway stations was increased through 70 additional despatches on work days and 55 additional sunday despatches.
Prompt rail transportation of all mail was assured by carrying mail bags on 26 trains which did not normally carry them. This was done in connection with the following cities : Dьsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfort-on-Main, Breslau, Kцnigsberg (Prussia), Gцrlitz, Frankfort on the Oder, Stargard and Stolp.
In order to expedite the despatch of the large amount of air mail, and above all the press letters, all mail capable of being handled in this way was sent out from the special post offices in the Olympic Stadium and the Press Headquarters through the pneumatic letter delivery system. There was also a special motorcycle service which delivered directly to the central aerodrome all press and other urgent mail which was handed in after the regular despatches had left the post offices. The authorized photographic firms could hand in press photographs to be sent through the mail at a special receiving office for this purpose, which was open day and night. Finally, the photographers themselves could deliver their express packages at the aerodome immediately before the departure of the planes. In the period from August 1st to August 16th, a total of 482,000 pieces of air mail were sent. This represented an increase of 270% above the normal amount handled. In the same period, 142,000 air mail letters were received, as against 70,000 letters in normal periods. This represented an increase of 100%.