On the Metal Plate Addressograph Machine which is used in most Central Orgs, the usefulness of the machine is enormously reduced by laying aside the "automatic envelope feed".
This is not used because the machine gives trouble on envelopes or magazines on "automatic feed".
The secret here is that the basic usefulness of the machine is not for envelopes.
Because it is called an address machine you don't realize its use is mainly for People Filing. If you thought of it as a People File machine, you'd get over this hump on the automatic feed.
The machine is primarily for CARD FILES for use by the Registrar and Central Files, the Academy, the HGC and the Letter Reg. We don't care if it never addresses an envelope the rest of its life.
The automatic feed will work on small file cards, 3 x 5 or some such size. It will not work well on envelopes or magazines.
Therefore, set the automatic feed up for FILE CARDS only, and don't use it on envelopes (unless you're having no trouble with using it either way).
In Washington and elsewhere the automatic feed has been abandoned because it won't address magazines and envelopes. That makes the machine useless for its basic purpose of making Index Card Sets for various departments in the organization.
Set the automatic feed for FILE CARDS and run off sets of cards as follows:
Use automatic only on cards. Use cheap cards that will feed easily. And use the automatic feed.
Do statements, magazines, envelopes in general by hand feed if automatic can't be made to work on these.
Without adequate card Files of people in the proper org hands, income is greatly reduced.
It is up to Address-in-Charge to make sure that such sets are routinely supplied to departments for their use and that old sets are destroyed and not passed on outside the org.