When the U.S. Parcel Post System started on 1/1/1913, the mailed items were not to be given dated cancellations. Year or year and month was fine but not the day of the month. There was an exception for the smallest post offices, called forth class offices (no relationship to the class of mail) which may not have had much need for anything other than normal round or duplex date cancels. The weight limit was eleven pounds.
Below is an example for the ducks lined up to allow for a date of use to be determined on this otherwise undated mailing tag.
San Francisco to Sacramento California is about 75 crow-fly miles apart. This places it firmly in Parcel Post Zone Two (approximately more than fifty but less than one hundred fifty miles). From 1/1/1913 through 8/14/1913 the rate of postage was six cents for the first pound and four cents for each additional pound or fraction. Thus the 26 cents postage could pay for more than four and up to five pounds (6+4+4+4+4 = 26).
On 8/15/1913 the rate of postage for the second zone dropped to five cents for the first pound and one cent for each additional pound of fraction. At that rating 26 cent would pay for more than 21 up to 22 pounds at 5 cents + (21 x 1 cent) = 26 cents EXCEPT on 8/15/1913 when the postage rate dropped the maximum allowed weight was raised from eleven to only twenty pounds. Thus the maximum weight of twenty pounds mailed to zone two cost only 24 cents to mail.
Beginning 7/1/1913 parcel post matter could be mail with any normal postage stamp, be it regular issue, commemorative or the parcel post stamp (which were then valid for any use the same as regular issues). The change was announce in late June 1913 and businesses began to move away from using the special parcel post stamps on parcel post (fourth class) mail matter. This would also allow a business such as the California Saw Works to stop doing extra work adding perfins (CSW) to even more stamps than just the regular issues required for the company's other business mail. They could just use up their stock of parcel post stamps and return to regular stamps used prior to 1/1/1913.
On 1/1/1914 the weight limit for postal zones one and two was raised to fifty pounds. Thus at that time the tag could have carried 22 pounds of saws and packaging, but it is far more likely that the tag was mailed between 1/1/13 and 8/14/13 rather than after the start of 1914 and beyond.
The addressee, Pacific Gas & Electric, is the same company known as PG&E, the utility known lately for being responsible for many wild fires which killed folks as well as an underground natural gas pipeline explosion which also burned and killed.
Posted 04/15/2022 9:26 pm
