::: SERVICE MARKS :::

This inward cover was on the dead letters list in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser edition of September 20, 1867.

Service Marks are the various marks used by the Hawaiian Postal Service to convey information to the recipient or sender of mail or to another post office down the mail stream. These marks include advice marks, collection marks, dead letter office marks, late letter marks, rate marks, registered letter marks and tax marks. Service marks used on registered letters sent in the foreign mail are discussed at Registered Letters. Registered marks used on local and inter-island mail are addressed below on this page. Auxiliary Marks are those used by other government offices, foreign postal services, unofficial sources such as forwarders, ships or ship pursers, railroads, express companies and commercial or ecclesiastic sources including plantations, mission stations and merchants. Another page is devoted to the Auxiliary Marks. Jim Shaffer has made valuable contributions to the study of both the service marks and the auxiliary marks and brought to light several of the unrecorded marks.

ADVICE MARKS

This phrase is meant to include the various handstamps used to tell a recipient of a letter reasons for the condition of an envelope or to explain a delay in transit. The two styles of "Too Late" marks meant a letter arrived too late to be included in a mail shipment so it was held over for the next shipment. Otherwise, these marks seem self-explanatory. These "advice marks" have received little notice and only two, the FORWARDED mark and the all capitalized TOO LATE mark, are noted in MH. Indeed, the tracing of the latter mark in MH suggests they observed a somewhat different style than is imaged below. Hopefully this effort to put some focus on the advice marks will lead to recording additional strikes or other marks. Please E-mail (scott312@earthlink.net) me if you can add to the usage period and number of recorded strikes or if you can add other advice marks.

COLLECTION MARKS

Two styles of marks were used to indicate the time a letter was collected from a place in Honolulu for depositing letters away from the main post office. The explanation usually given is that the marks refer to collection from a letter box, but some covers I have seen seem inconsistent with this explanation.

DEAD LETTER OFFICE MARKS

From its earliest days, the Honolulu Post Office advertised undelivered letters in the local newspaper. Unclaimed letters were treated as dead letters. In the 1860's the Honolulu Post Office briefly employed a mark to show a letter was advertised (see the image at the top of this page). That mark was retired until the late 1880's. In the 1890's, the Honolulu Post Office used a variety of marks associated with the dead letter office. Some of these marks were noted in MH, but several were not. Please E-mail (scott312@earthlink.net) me if you can add more strikes to those indicated as rare, if you can expand the usage period or if you can other dead letter office marks. Click here for images of the Dead Letter Office Marks.

LATE LETTER MARKS

These marks reflect payment of an extra fee for processing a late letter so they are a sub-category of rate marks rather than an advice mark. Starting in mid-1882, people who brought their letters to the Honolulu Post Office after the posted closing time for a mail shipment were charged an additional 5¢ fee to have their letters included in the mail. The fee was charged more to discourage the practice of bringing in late letters than for revenue. Two different marks were used to indicate a late letter fee was charged. Examples I have seen thus far are on covers sent abroad. A mark identified in MH as type 758 is said to have "Late Fee" above and "Maui" below, but I have not seen it, if it actually exists. After the mid-1880's, the Honolulu Post Office used its regular postmark on late letters.

RATE MARKS

Several varieties of rate marks were used in Hawaii, most by the Honolulu Post Office on foreign mail. Click here for a study of the rate marks.

REGISTERED MARKS

The following marks are registered marks associated with the local and inter-island mail. Registered marks associated with mail sent abroad are discussed at Registered Letters. Little attention has been paid to these marks so much remains unknown. Please E-mail (scott312@earthlink.net) me if you have additional information about these marks.

TAX MARKS

Marks used to indicate postage due are found on outbound and inward foreign mail covers and also on domestic mail covers. On foreign mail, UPU rules required the originating country to indicate the amount of postage due in values of French centimes. Five French centimes equaled one cent Hawaiian. The destination country translated the amount due into local currency. Only one of these marks is reported in MH, the "COLLECT, _ _ _ _ _ _ CENTS" mark. A "COLLECT, 10 CENTS" mark is known in addition to the 6 and 2 cents examples shown. Other tax mark examples and values may exist.

Outbound Foreign Mail Marks

Inbound and Domestic Mail Marks

BOGUS SPECIAL POSTAL DELIVERY MARK

Someone decided to "improve" philatelic covers for scarce high value stamps by adding a "SPECIAL POSTAL DELIVERY" mark, thus making it appear a higher rate was needed to justify use of high value stamps. There was no such service apart from the normal registered mail service. I have seen the bogus mark on two covers, each bearing a genuine Honolulu postmark with an overprinted stamps. Noted so far are covers with the 18¢ double overprint, Scott No. 71a and with the 12¢ red lilac overprinted in red, Scott No. 63.

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