From my Business Forms archive of old books

Came across this wonderful quote from a 1917 book on office management called Modern Business, published by the Alexander Hamilton Institute.

"Speeding up communication.—The officers of a well-known banking company found it necessary, in order to expedite the delivery of messages and letters from one department to another, to provide the office boys with some means of rapid locomotion. The ordinary steel-wheeled roller skates being too noisy, a specially constructed wheel was made of rubber, and the boys now glide swiftly and noiselessly from desk to desk."

Then there is this quote with references to baskets as something new.

"Checking up the office boy.—To prevent delays and errors due to carelessness of messengers, and to enable the person in charge of the office service department to trace delays to the boy responsible for them, a checking system has been devised. Mail and messages for distribution are placed in a basket or tray marked "Outgoing", and are collected when the messenger boy distributes mail or messages to an adjoining basket or tray marked "Incoming." The baskets or receptacles are emptied at regular intervals on the route. Each card must be marked with the time of collection as, for example, "This tray was emptied at 8.30 A.M." Each messenger has a certain number of trays or baskets on his route and is held responsible for all collections and deliveries. In each receptacle there is a card showing the time of last delivery."