Mail Delayed Carrier Out Of Time ???

What about the motto 'not rain nor sleet or dead of night etc.....'
Looks like this guy was late for dinner.??


Also, does it look like the stamp has moved to the right slightly?

Of course, the motto you refer to is not officially connected with the US Post Office, even though it is mistakenly thought to be by many:

http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/po...on-motto.pdf

In any event, it is certainly an interesting postal marking for the day. In fact, fast forward to the present day and it still is a problem in some areas of the country as this news article will attest to:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...8_story.html

Curiously, the 1909 postal marking shown is probably somewhat scarce, as it is not even carried on the Auxiliary Markings website (at least not that I can see). Actually they may be interested in a copy of your cover to document the use of that postal marking:

http://www.postal-markings.org/listing-full.html

It's also curious to think that the situation "Delayed by expiration of carrier's time" occurred often enough that the post office felt it necessary to create a rubber stamp specifically identifying that as a cause for the mail delay.

wt1, I find it odd that they would bother stamping that on a letter. How would the reciever even know if the letter was delayed if it got there the next day?? Wouldn't they just assume that's when it should have gotten there.

Stampcrow,

The stamp looking like it has moved to the right slightly may be an illusion caused by the failure of the cancel to register on the cover along the left side of the stamp.

wt1 I checked out the Markings club page. The closest thing I see is a 1906 "Failed to deliver for want of time". I will contact them. Thanks.

Classic Coins, Yea the gap on the left looked funny but the wavy lines line up. Your thoughts are probably correct. The lines to the right of the stamp look off though. There is no reason to remove this stamp and then put it back. So it's probably fine.