What Does Dpo Mean On This Cancel?

Money Order Business.

Guess,
from my Commonwealth experience
Money Order Branch.

A simple search on the SCF Knowledge Base......
https://goscf.com/t/41775 br /

And here is another one...CPU for "Contract Postal Unit"

A store or business that offers post office supplies and services under contract to the United States Postal Service.

Linus

(from my collection, Moon Drug Company from Nashville, Tennessee, USA)

M.O.B. cancel:
While this cancel could always be used in error or in an emergency, the reason it was probably used on the registered cover shown above was that clerks were not to use normal postal cancels to cancel stamps, ostensibly to make clerks check the back. It didn't work. But because of the vague wording of the directive, the M.O.B. cancel, the straightline REGISTERED marking and the fancy cancels of the era were used to cancel stamps on registered mail.

And now, let's return to the subject of D.P.O. If you have other abbreviations, kindly start another thread.

hy-brasil states:




What directive are you referring to?

All this had me curious. The cover in question is dated 1933, so looking in the 1932 "Postal Laws and Regulations" volume, there is a 48 page section on Money Orders. Paragraph 1421 clarifies the use of the M.O.B. device:



(Add: This same text was in paragraph 1099 of the 1924 PL&R volume, so was not a new regulation.)

From the existing uses on stamps and covers, it is clear that clerk error or occasional mis-use was tolerated.

My experience after looking at many 1,000s registered covers is if a clerk has a device in the drawer and they are in a hurry it will eventually wind up on a cover it was not intended to mark. MOB cancels are frequently found on registered mail. A clerk potentially got into much bigger trouble if a registered item was not cancelled or backstamped so, when in doubt, whack it with whatever and move on. Your cover is a nice example of this situation.

The obvious issue with your cover is that it was postmarked on its front side at all. Regulations effective 1/1/1911 moved all postmarkings on registered covers to their back side only.

Montauge, MI was a small post office probably not issued a mute device to cancel stamps. Number 116 indicates a very low volume of registered mail orgionating at that office since the numbering restarted with number one at the beginning of the quarter October 1. Whack it, sack it, and get it out the door.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! This is not my area of interest so I am selling these plus other registered covers on ebay. They will all be added by tomorrow noon. I sell only best offer, no auction. My store:
Marble Direct US
I am also linked from this site.