3l8 MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY PLANTS 



will not have the appearance of a form letter, for it is the per- 

 sonal touch given to a letter that makes it valuable and of 

 interest to the one who reads it. 



Records of form letters are most readily kept on cards filed 

 away in alphabetical order in a special file. When a reply has 

 been received to one of the form letters the corresponding card 

 will be removed to another file and should this person later be- 

 come a customer the card will be filed among the cards of ac- 

 tive customers. 



D. FILING OF CORRESPONDENCE 



A creamery handling a comparatively small amount of mail 

 may conveniently use a small filing case in which the corre- 

 spondence is filed alphabetically. This system, however, be- 

 comes impossible in a larger business, and the vertical drawer 

 files then become the most useful. The letters are filed away in 

 folders of standard size, 9 3/8 X 11 7/8 inches with 3/4 inch 

 projecting tabs. The letters may be filed in alphabetical order, 

 geographically, or numerically. The alphabetical order may be 

 considered as being the simplest. This is, however, less con- 

 venient for some of the other departments, such as the sales 

 and credit departments, for which the geographical system of 

 filing has its advantages. The letter folders may be filed in 

 numerical order, but if that system is employed then an index 

 reference card file will be required. The cards of such a file are 

 placed alphabetically or geographically and refer to number of 

 folder. 



Business correspondence should be transferred about once a 

 year. For transfer files cheap vertical files may be used and the 

 correspondence should be filed away in them so as to correspond 

 to the general system of the office. 



