W. E. Mail Service – London/Canada
Canada's postal workers went in 1968 on a 22 days lasting postal strike (18th July – 9th August). During this period mail was delivered by the Department of National Defense and private courier services such as “Juan de Fuca Despatch”, "Stern Parcel Service", "Canadian Importers Association, Inc.", "W.E. Mail Service", …
W. E. Mail Service was operated by J. Sullivan (President) and T. Markle (Vice President) in London/Ontario. They delivered the mail by bicycle and used specially prepared envelopes:
RE20968
In the upper left corner these envelopes were showing a black facsimile print of the US Special Delivery stamp from 1911, surrounded by the following typewritten (also printed) text: “Souvenir of Canada’s Postal Strike in July 1968. Two enterprising London boys set up a Delivery Service using their bikes to make deliveries. This letter was delivered by them.”. The envelopes were signed either “W. E. Mail Service, T. Markle, Vice-Pres.” or “W. E. Mail Service, J. Sullivan, Pres.” as shown in the catalog “Field Guide to the Cinderella Stamps of Canada” written by Ron G. Lafrenière:
In the online catalog of BICYCLE PHILATELY you find these envelopes in the chapter “local stationeries”
Apart from this, nothing else is known about the W. E. Mail Service. Did the service really exist? If yes - how was it organized? Are any delivered envelopes with address known? How much was the delivery fee and how large was the delivery area? What does “W.E. …” mean?
If you have more information please contact info[at]bicyclestamps.de
Thanks to Ron Lafrenière for providing the above extract from his catalog “Field Guide to the Cinderella Stamps of Canada”, scans and all the additional information.