The increase in TIME'S U.S. circulation this year to a record high of 1,700,000 copies a week has brought a corresponding increase in the job of John Edward King, general manager of subscription service for TIME Inc. In a ten-story building at 540 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, King and his two assistants, Frank S. Waterman and Charles A. Adams Jr., supervise the handling of about as much mail in a day as the average person receives in a lifetime. The daily average is 32,000 letters. Peak load during the past year: 84,694 pieces of mail, last Jan. 28.

To take care of such a large volume of mail, King and his assistants have set up a system for careful, but speedy, handling of every letter that arrives -- from the preliminary sorting to the final disposition. For example, the return envelopes which TIME encloses with reminders that subscriptions are expiring, or in letters to prospective subscribers, come in various colors and sizes. In each case, the size and color mean some thing to the subscription service, making it possible to sort mail even before the letters are opened. A large green envelope, for instance, is an order from a college senior, while a grey envelope is an answer to correspondence regarding a subscription.

A variety of mechanical gadgets takes over the processing of letters as they arrive at "540." One machine stamps the envelopes, another counts them into bundles of 100, still another slits them for easy opening. In the case of a subscription order, all the necessary information is put on to a set of I.B.M. tabulating cards by a keypunch machine. The subscriber's name and address appear in printed form on only one of the cards, and the address sticker which is glued to the copy of TIME each week is copied from this card. This is done on a facsimile machine, a fantastic electric eye device which "reads" the printing with a light beam and reprints the information on rolls of pink paper.

TIME'S circulation procedures were first mechanized in 1946, when the number of subscriptions started out growing the original manual operation. But 540 keeps a year-round staff of more than 1,000 people to do what the machines cannot. All inquiries, plaudits and complaints are checked and answered personally, although one mistrusting man several years ago fastened his letter to a large shingle, said: "Now try and file this."

Another man who required extra attention sent in 50-c- to $1 at irregular intervals to pay for his TIME subscription. He did the same thing when he ordered LIFE's Picture History of World War II. When $10 had accumulated, an order was put through for the regular edition. But before it was mailed, he sent another $2, asking for the deluxe edition.

The staff at 540 has also had its troubles with people who send too much money at one time. Because TIME'S return envelopes are a handy size to carry around, people use them to keep cash for various purposes. Every so often, when somebody leaves such an envelope lying around, another well-meaning member of the family may seal it and mail it to TIME. The subscription office has received rent money, mortgage payments and money given to a wife to deposit in the bank. One man once absently wrote out a check for the amount of his bank balance -- in four figures -- and mailed it in for a subscription. In some rural communities, people sometimes leave cash in the envelopes with a list of money orders they want the postman to buy for them. Once a new post man, in an effort to be helpful, sealed the envelope and sent it along -- currency, list & all.

The money, of course, is always returned sometimes after much difficulty in locating the owner. So were the false teeth that once arrived, undamaged, in a TIME return envelope. Two gallons of fine maple syrup were once reluctantly returned to a man who offered them in exchange for a subscription. The exchange seemed more than fair, but the precedent would have obvious dangers. One thing TIME'S subscription service is still not equipped to handle is the barter system.

Cordially yours,

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