Highway Post Office / Hpo Packing Slips?

Hey All,
Been awhile since I've posted. I'm trying to get back into things.
I've been holding onto these for awhile. They came along with a large load of HPO (Highway Post Office) covers. I believe these are what is called "packing slips" that were bundled with groups of covers as they were processed via the HPO mail system. I have them from a variety of locations, but mostly related to HPO destinations / stops in NY, VT and NJ.
I thought I saw some info about these in the past here, but haven't found the old thread.
Here's some sample images, enjoy!
Will

Also called 'Facing Slips', I collect them (along with bag tags) and have quite a few. They were used on top of bundled mail items all going to the same location (typically with a rubber band). Note you have RPO slips mixed in with the HPO slips.
Don

Example of a Bag Tag (below the Facing Slips). Unlike the very thin and fragile Facing Slip paper, the Bag Tag are a very thick paper. I assume that these were meant to be in service longer than the short use Facing Slips.


Stamp Smarter online HPO catalog is here https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/HPOHome.html

Thanks for the reply Don,
I have just a few of the Bag Tags -




This all came from one person's collection of several hundred RPO's and HPO's so I'm not surprised they are mixed. It's also confusing as I have some facing slips that are printed as HPO, but have RPO postmarks.

There's a couple of examples here:

The Highway Post Office Service was a part of the Railway Mail Service, so finding hybrid items would be normal. Rail transportation was declining in the mid-20th century and the highway system was being built. From the 1948 Postal Laws & Regulations:



And one eventually finds "P.T.S." in many of the killers of many cancels.

By law, the postal service was not allowed to run a HPO anywhere a RPO already existed (the RR lobby colluded with politicians to limit competition). Here is a presentation (with sound) I did for my local club http://ashevillestampclub.org/articles/HPO.html

It explains the RPO connections.

Don

I believe the bag tags were heavier since had to take more abuse. They slid into metal holders that were or were part of the drawstring closure for canvas bags. I also think that they were as ephemeral/throwaway as the facing slips, since I used to pick up empty canvas bags for large mailings and tags were often still in the holders and had to be removed.

Enjoyable read, and video.

I had no name for my Australian counterparts
now "Bag Tags"
with ubiquitous green twine
I believe possibly printed by Cadillac Printing in Perth WA