Rural Route Notices 1921 to 1931

Beginning in the August 1921 periodic notices began to appear in the monthly Postal Guide Supplements to address a problem with the Rural Route delivery of unaddressed circulars.  The August 1921 notice read:

“Notice to Postmasters of Distributing Offices for Rural Routes.- It has been brought to the attention of the Department that in certain instances, Rural Mail Couriers have accepted Advertising Literature for distribution direct from the advertisers or agents, this literature bearing no postage.

Postmasters of distributing offices for Rural Routes are accordingly to warn Royal Mail Couriers that it is a violation of Postal Regulations to accept for distribution any matter not mailed in the regular manner, and which does not comply with regulations in regard to postage.”

The wording of a notice was changed slightly in the November 1925 supplement to further clarify the term advertising literature. It read:

“Notice to Postmasters of Distributing Offices for Rural Routes.- It has been brought to the attention of the Department that in certain instances, Rural Mail Couriers have accepted hand bills, notice of meetings, etc., for distribution direct from the advertisers or agents, these items bearing no postage.

Postmasters of distributing offices for Rural Routes are accordingly to warn Royal Mail Couriers that it is a violation of Postal Regulations to accept for distribution any matter not mailed in the regular manner, and which does not comply with regulations in regard to postage.”

The same notice was printed in the March 1929 Supplement this time adding the words “circulars soliciting newspaper subscriptions” to the material descriptions

The March 1929 supplement notice was subsequently repeated in the March 1930, March 1931, November 1931 and December 1931 monthly supplements. The warnings may have repeated in subsequent monthly supplements but I do not have access to further supplements.

everyhouseholder

Postal Guide Information 1904-1914

In my last posting I indicated that I would provide some analysis of the 1889 to 1904 Postal Guide changes but I am going to delay that and continue with more information from the Postal Guide and supplements.

The 1906, 1908, 1911, 1912 and 1913 Postal Guides each repeated the exact wording from the 1904 guide so I assume that the guides for the intervening years also repeated the 1904 wording.

The January 1914 Quarterly supplement offered additional clarification as follows:

Circulars, etc., Addressed "The Householder". - Circulars and similar printed matter duly prepaid may be posted for any place in Canada, addressed simply "The Householder" without the name of any person or indication of street or number; and it will be the duty of Postmasters to see that, so far as the supply sent permits, the circulars or other articles thus addressed are delvered at every house, in places where there is a free carrier delivery service, or to every family, in places where the patrons of the Post Office call at the office for their mail.

Furtrher clarification was provided in the April 1914 Quarterly Supplement. It reads:

Circulars for Boxholders on Rural Mail Routes.- Attention is drawn to paragraph 3 on page 13 of the January Quarterly Supplement whcih supercedes Section 82 on page 20 of the Postal Guide and reads as follows:-
"Circulars and similar printed matter duly prepaid may be posted for any place in Canada, addressed simply "The Householder" without the name of any person or indication of street or number; and it will be the duty of Postmasters to see that, so far as the supply sent permits, the circulars or other articles thus addressed are delvered at every house, in places where there is a free carrier delivery service, or to every family, in places where the patrons of the Post Office call at the office for their mail."
It has been decided that the arrangement indicated shall apply equally to circulars and similar printed matter intended for boxholders on the Rural Mail routes; and it will be the duty of the mail courier to see that, so far as the supply permits, circulars or other articles of printed matter addressed simply "The Householder" or "The Boxholder" are delivered into every box on his route.

Following the introduction of Rural Mail Delivery (RMD) in Canada a few years earlier this appears to be the first recognition of the extension of Every Householder mail to RMD customers.

everyhouseholder

Postal Guide Information 1889-1904

The first Postal Guide information on the Every Householder rate the I have found is in the 1889 Guide, page xi, under the Third Class section. It states simply:

Unaddressed circulars, hand-bills, &c., may be posted for letter box distribution at the rate of 1/2 c. each, to be prepaid by postage stamp.

This wording was changed in the 1896 Postal Guide to read:

Unaddressed circulars, hand-bills, &c., subject to the rate of 1 cent per 4 ounces, may when not exceeding two ounces in weight be posted for local letter box distribution at a rate of 1/2 c each to be paid by postage stamp: if exceeding two ounces in weight the general rate applicable to such matters must be prepaid.

This wording change remained in place in the 1897 to 1900 Postal Guides and probably through to 1903 although I do not have access to copies of the 1901-1903 guides to check. In the 1904 Postal Guide however, the wording was changed again to read:

Circulars and similar articles of printed matter, duly prepaid may be posted addresssed simply to the householder without the name of any person or indication of street or number, and will be delivered at every house so far as the supply permits, in places where there is free delivery by letter carrier.

Well that is all for today. More on the analysis of these changes in the Postal Guide wording over the 1889-1904 period next time.

If anyone has access to the 1901-1903 Postal Guides I'd like to confim that the 1896 wording above remained unchanged through that period.

And here is another issue  that I am curious about. Was the everyhouseholder rate a Canadian idea or was it copied from other countries?

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Every Householder Mail

Feb 24, 2012

I have been interested in the Canadian Every Householder mail rate for a number of years and have now accumulated 100+ pieces from 1898 to 1968. Now it is time to do the research and hopefully compile my accumulation into a collection and exhibit. The purpose of this blog is to share the research as it happens and hopefully get some inputs, comments and feedback from other collectors to make this a collaborative effort.

The journey begins. Where it will end I do not know for this is my first blogging effort.

everyhouseholder