New postal regulations announced Friday should help save post office workers several miles in walking everyday, and return many more letters to their original senders.

The new regulations, announced at the House of Assembly, will return all misaddressed letters, along with requiring the instillation of cluster boxes in multi-floor buildings and the moving of mailboxes closer to the road.

According to Minister of Telecommunications Terry Lister, the new regulations are designed to improve productivity.

"A review at the Hamilton, Warwick and Crawl Post Office delivery routes indicated that a postman travels a combined distance of 214 miles on a daily basis," said Mr. Lister. "80 miles of this distance is travelled from and to property entrances."

The regulations will require reception desks or cluster mailboxes on the ground floor of multi-storey buildings to prevent post office workers from having to travel floor-by-floor, and moving post office boxes as close as practical to the boundary at the entrance of the property.

In addition, after August 31 all letters with incorrect addresses will be returned to the sender.

If the sender's address is not attached, the letter will be held for a month before being disposed of.

"We all know that living on a small Island has its advantages, and one of those advantages is that our postman knows where we live," said Mr. Lister. "If a letter is addressed to us and incorrectly says we live in Bailey's Bay, but the postman knows we live in Flatts, he will assure the letter is delivered to our residence in Flatts.

"Although a nice gesture, it is inefficient and time consuming and in need of a change."

Mr. Lister referred all those unsure how to properly address a letter to look at the Bermuda Post Office section of the Government Blue Pages in the Yellow Pages.