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The Canadian
Advanced Posting Service
1926-1949
According to a 1933 notice distributed in Toronto, the Advanced Posting Service consisted of four elements:
1. Selected offices were designated to receive Christmas cards early in December
2. Christmas cards would receive special cancellations. (While it was not specific on this point the cancellations in 1933 were dated the last delivery date before Christmas and were in red ink. This is a pattern noted on all items illustrated here.
3. Christmas cards would be delivered on the last delivery date before Christmas.
4. Only local delivery cards were guaranteed delivery before Christmas
According to Roland Greenhill this service was first established in Winnipeg in 1927 (The Philatelist, December 1977). Since 1977 the first date of service can be advanced to 1926. Until this year (2007) I had only seem APS letters with a machine cancel. So I was surprised and delighted when I was offered a Winnipeg APS cover with a lovely red handstamps clearly indicating "Advanced Posting Bureau".
In the following table the Rs represent items reported in the Greenhill article but not seen by me. The "C"s are items that have been confirmed and or added since the Greenhill article. Updates and corrections to this information are gladly accepted.
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|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
32
|
33
|
34
|
35
|
36
|
37
|
38
|
39
|
40
|
41
|
42
|
43
|
44
|
45
|
46
|
47
|
48
|
49
|
|
Barrie
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
Halifax
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
C
|
R
|
R
|
R
|
C
|
R
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
London
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
C
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
Montreal
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
C
|
R
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
St. John
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
R
|
R
|
C
|
R
|
C
|
R
|
C
|
C
|
R
|
-
|
-
|
C
|
-
|
-
|
C
|
C
|
-
|
-
|
C
|
|
Toronto
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
Winnipeg
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
R
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
C
|
R
|
C
|
C
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
...
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
32
|
33
|
34
|
35
|
36
|
37
|
38
|
39
|
40
|
41
|
42
|
43
|
44
|
45
|
46
|
47
|
48
|
49
|
Note the following cities were previous listed here.
Lewisporte NF 1966
Sanitorium ON 1959
St. John NB 1952
They are no longer listed as the dates and/or destinations were
inconsistent with the intended purpose of the APS guidelines as
indicated in the Toronto notice, i.e. local delivery and last
delivery date before Christmas.
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The Machines
Over the life of the APS the machines of several manufacturers were used. Perfect, Universal and Pitney Bowes. I have indicated machines types below - P=Perfect -- U=Universal PB=Pitney Bowes.
In the mid 1930's the Universal and Pitney Bowes companies merged (Coutts, Machine Cancel Study Group Newsletter, Jan 1992). With the amalgamation of the Universal by Pitney Bowes and with the likelihood that Universal machine use continued after the amalgamation I use the PB designator for both these machines. If anyone can suggest another way of designation which is more appropriate please let me know.
The Census of Cancellations is the beginning of an effort to list all cities, dates, time marks and slogans which exist for these items. Items reported but not seen by me will be so indicated. Items submitted by photocopy or scan will be credited to the submitter.
Christmas Dates
Here are links to the December calendars during the APS period.
APS Decembers
Acknowledgements
A special note of thanks to Dan Hunka who has made several corrections to information I had listed.
Charles Livermore
charleslivermore@hotmail.com
Page created May 2004 - Updated: February 7 2007
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