Snail-mail speed

There have been a number of comments about the speed of snail-mail
recently. My collection sheds some interesting information on the topic.

There are a number of postcards that have been cancelled at origin, and
again at destination (Fredericton NB, my home).

One was cancelled at 10 am in Saint John and 4 pm the same day in
Fredericton (60 miles away). A couple from Detroit were 2 days in
transit, one from Vanvouver (across the continent) was 6 days enroute.
Two from Chico CA (over 5000 miles away) took 7 days to arrive.

The postmark dates were 1908 to 1913, when it took nearly a week to
cross the continent by train. Postage was 1 cent.

Today, with travel time12 hours or less, we're fortunate if a letter
crosses the continent in a week - it usually takes longer.

This is an interesting observation that I have
made myself. I have seen covers from the late
1890s and early 1900s that travelled half way
around the world in under 2 weeks.

In the 1960s, I often received letters from a
friend fighting in the Yemen civil war. Transit
time by air was about 4 days from Yemen to Canada.
At the same time I would regularly receive airmail
from the USA that took 2 to 4 weeks transit.

In recent years USA - Canada airmail takes about
1 week. Local takes a couple of days. Still not
the service of a century ago (remember two
deliveries a day?) but not bad in these times.

Blair

Blair (TC) wrote:
This is an interesting observation that I have
made myself. I have seen covers from the late
1890s and early 1900s that travelled half way
around the world in under 2 weeks.

In the 1960s, I often received letters from a
friend fighting in the Yemen civil war. Transit
time by air was about 4 days from Yemen to Canada.
At the same time I would regularly receive airmail
from the USA that took 2 to 4 weeks transit.

In recent years USA - Canada airmail takes about
1 week. Local takes a couple of days. Still not
the service of a century ago (remember two
deliveries a day?) but not bad in these times.

Blair

Some recent snail mail in California makes even snails seem fast. My
local July bank statement took 11 days to reach me. And a recent issue
of Linn's, mailed third-class from Ohio, took 27 days.

Bill

Bill Sharpe wrote:

Blair (TC) wrote:

This is an interesting observation that I have
made myself. I have seen covers from the late
1890s and early 1900s that travelled half way
around the world in under 2 weeks.

In the 1960s, I often received letters from a
friend fighting in the Yemen civil war. Transit
time by air was about 4 days from Yemen to Canada.
At the same time I would regularly receive airmail
from the USA that took 2 to 4 weeks transit.

In recent years USA - Canada airmail takes about
1 week. Local takes a couple of days. Still not
the service of a century ago (remember two
deliveries a day?) but not bad in these times.

Blair

Some recent snail mail in California makes even snails seem fast. My
local July bank statement took 11 days to reach me. And a recent issue
of Linn's, mailed third-class from Ohio, took 27 days.

Bill

I just received an envelope from Virginia, mailed to Alberta, that
took 17 days. The address format was correct, perfectly legible (better
than anything I can write), it was franked with $1.10 in postage (only
60 cents required), it had an airmail sticker on it, everything was
correct. But for some reason the U.S. Postal Service automated sorter
markings on the bottom of the envelope were scribbled out with a crayon.
No wonder it took 17 days - it had to wait for somebody other than a
machine to look at it.

Ryan

In a recent message Ryan Davenport wrote:

Bill Sharpe wrote:

Blair (TC) wrote:

This is an interesting observation that I have
made myself. I have seen covers from the late
1890s and early 1900s that travelled half way
around the world in under 2 weeks.

In the 1960s, I often received letters from a
friend fighting in the Yemen civil war. Transit
time by air was about 4 days from Yemen to Canada.
At the same time I would regularly receive airmail
from the USA that took 2 to 4 weeks transit.

In recent years USA - Canada airmail takes about
1 week. Local takes a couple of days. Still not
the service of a century ago (remember two
deliveries a day?) but not bad in these times.

Blair

Some recent snail mail in California makes even snails seem fast. My
local July bank statement took 11 days to reach me. And a recent issue
of Linn's, mailed third-class from Ohio, took 27 days.

Bill

I just received an envelope from Virginia, mailed to Alberta, that
took 17 days. The address format was correct, perfectly legible (better
than anything I can write), it was franked with $1.10 in postage (only
60 cents required), it had an airmail sticker on it, everything was
correct. But for some reason the U.S. Postal Service automated sorter
markings on the bottom of the envelope were scribbled out with a crayon.
No wonder it took 17 days - it had to wait for somebody other than a
machine to look at it.

Ryan

My best was a registered air mail letter from Italy that took well over a month.

The replacement items arrived well before the originals.

--
Tony Clayton
Coins of the UK : http://www.coinsoftheuk.info
Sent using RISCOS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... I was going to procrastinate, but I put it off....