Cover With - Embargo Return To Sender.

GENTLEMEN...START...YOUR...ENGINES

Hi guys
Need help, what is this cancel on this American cover...???
What is "Embargo return to sender."..??

Robert

In response to Canada postal strike. A neat piece of postal history for a Canada or US collection

US Postal Bulletin, issue number 22261, dated October 26, 1978, page 1:

Thank you

Robert

QUESTION...As the return address shows, the sender lives in "Niagara-on-the-lake" a Canadian city to Hamilton another Canadian city...How did it cross the border to the states as the cancel says.

Hope it is not a stupid question..

It appears that despite the Canadian return address, the cover was mailed in New York using a US postage stamp. Which leads to another question. How could it be returned to the sender with the embargo in place?

So a Canadian posted a piece of mail to another Canadian while he (the sender) was in New York City. A scenario presumably not anticipated by the U.S. postal authorities. Perhaps, like the Kingston trio on the MTA, the mailing could bounce around in the system, never to return to sender … or at least not until the strike was done.

Well...Now that brings up another question.

Why did a Canadian mail his letter to another Canadian from the States..???..Getting weirder..

Robert

Neat Cover, I've never seen that before.

Just found another refusal to forward a letter from a person I Canada to a Canadian Company from Gainesville Florida because of a Postal Strike in Canada...Date was 1978.Oct.17.

Second one found with cancel saying ""Return to sender service temporary
Discontinued.""

Kind of neat...Robert

My initial thought was that this 2nd Canadian was further from home. But I see an additional address immediately below the return address … for the same Canadian but for an address in Ocala, FL. So is he really Canadian or just an American who is or will be visiting Canada? Interesting pieces.

The second cover is likely a Canadian who spends the winter months in Florida.

With two Canadian addresses on the first cover, there is likely nothing the USPS could do but hold the letter until the embargo lifted as both addresses were equally problematic. The second cover should have been returned to the Florida address, but the fact that it is now with a cover to the same company would point toward it being held until the end of the embargo also.

Excellent modern postal history.

For the topic, shown below are two "embargo" covers from my own postal history collection with different markings and dates. A whole collection of these would be quite possible.

Linus

Here's a link to an article on the 1968 strike:
http://postalhistorycorner.blogspot...of-1968.html

and later strikes in these two:
http://postalhistorycorner.blogspot...81-from.html
http://postalhistorycorner.blogspot...-postal.html

Strike of 1968: As an additional exercise, I looked through the US Postal Bulletins through the duration of the 1968 strike for the resumption notices, etc. Very nice they detail about holding and remailing. The following are from, respectively:
PB 20654, July 18 1968, page 1
PB 20655, July 25, 1968, page 1
PB 20658, August 15, 1968, page 1
PB 20659, August 22, 1968, page 7






I suspect similar progressive announcements are available for the 1978 strike beyond the initial one I posted several entries ago.

Thanks for the links, and interesting reading. Most of their USA examples are standard mail service suspended markings, but my two examples actually state "Canadian" or "Canada" in the marking. I am sure there are many others.

Linus

Ok, this is the only other US Postal Bulletin note from the 1978 strike, PB 21162, November 2, 1978:




And the two US Postal Bulletin notices about the 1981 strike:
PB21307, July 16, 1981, page 3
PB 21312, August 20, 1981, page 1

Good links Mr. Becker

Would it be a waste of time sending in my 2 postal covers to
Postalhistorycorner..??

They do not have any covers of Canadians trying to sent material back to Canada via the USA.

Robert

The author has passed, see the note at the top of the right column in the link. Anyone searching diligently on the internet for Canadian strike mail will encounter this thread.