Phil pages July-Aug-Final - The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada

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RC Number – Origin and Use the Delivery Section within the Trail Post Office Building. To fully understand the present RC number system, it is necessary first to look back at the development of the original “Office Numbers”. These are the numbers referred to by collectors as Money Order Office Numbers, or “MOON’s” for short. By Bill Topping, FRPSC The introduction of the current “RC” numbers can be traced back to the assigning, in the early 1930’s, of the four-digit accounting numbers that were used to identify post offices within Canada. The initials “RC” are used to identify the 10- digit “Responsibility Centre” numbers used for accounting purposes by Canada Post. At the same time a six, soon to be seven, digit portion of the number is used to identify the “Retail Counter” within each post office. These six-digit numbers are the numbers used on the standard rectangular daters used in most post offices. The use of the “RC” number to identify the operator of a postal outlet while at the same time, in an expanded form, being used to identify accounting areas with the postal outlet has caused considerable confusion among postal historians. To further add to the confusion, unlisted “RC” numbers are also assigned to the various branches, depots or sections within some of the larger post offices. The three RC numbers found on the daters from Trail, BC are a good example of this problem. The official counter number for Trail is 647209 but the numbers 637823 and 051152 have been used to identify the Letter Carrier Depot and Post offices in Canada were first assigned numbers in the mid 1930’s. At first four-digit numbers were assigned to Accounting Post Offices and later five-digit numbers were assigned to Non-accounting Post Offices. These numbers were assigned to the post office name and indicated the status of the post office. If the status of an office was changed, the number was also changed. The first digit of the number was also used to identify the region in which the post office was located. For example all British Columbia Accounting Post Offices were assigned numbers in the 9000 series. From time to time other number series were assigned to identify special types of offices such as Postal Outlets. In 1973, a new six-digit number series was introduced to solve the problem of a shortage of numbers in regions such as Ontario. Again the first digit of the number could be used to identify the region in which the post offices was located, and like the earlier series a number was assigned to the post office rather than the postmaster or operator. Larger offices such as Trail might be assigned more than one number for accounting purposes, but only the front counter number was listed in the official list of post offices. Thus although Trail, BC was officially assigned the number 647209, the number 637823 was also assigned to the Trail Letter Carrier Depot in the same building. In the late 1980’s, a major change in the post office accounting methods took place and a new 10-digit number system was introduced. The numbers were initially referred to as “HIRS” (Human Inventory Resource System) numbers and were assigned to the owner/operator of the Retail Counter rather than to the Post Office itself. The first seven digits identify the Retail Counter (RC), although at present all numbers appear as six-digit numbers with one or more unwritten zeros preceding the number. Within the next few years, when the present series of six-digit numbers will be exhausted, the sevendigit numbers will come into use. For post offices established prior to 1990, the six-digit number shown on the 162 / July – August 2000 The Canadian Philatelist / Le philatéliste canadien
dater at the retail counter remained unchanged. For example the number shown on the Trail Post Office dater remained 647209 but the actual 10-digit number was 0647209010 with the last three digits “010” being used to indicate counter service. The last three digits “450”, “490”, and “570” were assigned for accounting purposes to identify different section or branches within the Trail Post Office such as the Letter Carrier Depot. At the same time Retail Managers and Retail Reps are assigned RC#’s with up to eight sub numbers being used to identify the various accounts under their jurisdiction. Occasionally these numbers are used on daters and the Trail RC# 051152 falls into this category. A study of the 10-digit numbers shows that it is possible to identify post office status using the last three digits of the 10-digit numbers. For example Semi-staff offices end in “470” while Retail Outlets end in “920” and Revenue Offices end in “480”. At the same time as the new numbers were introduced, the post office policy was changed and the new numbers were assigned to the operator of the retail counter rather than the actual post office name as was done in the past. As a result each time a retail counter (post office) changes ownership a new number is used. The new numbers were initially assigned as blocks of numbers to each region but this was quickly changed and at present all numbers are assigned from Ottawa. Each of the new numbers contains a check digit, designed to reduce the chances of error in recording the numbers. (A more detailed study of the use of check digits can be found in the PHSC Journal, Vol. 59 page 15.) As a result of the use of a check digit is that about one in every eight consecutive number is assigned. The numbers, which are assigned consecutively, ignore postal regions but do give an indication as to the date when a request was made for a change in postal status. From time to time, under the new accounting system introduced in 1990, numbers are assigned to special postal functions such as Commercial Sales and these numbers are used on daters much to the confusion of postal historians. The two numbers below are such numbers. The RC number 640026 was assigned to the Pacific Division Cash Accounts Section which was further divided, for accounting purposes, into 11 sub sections using the 10-digit number system. The Judging Affairs 640018 RC number was used at the Vancouver Postage Stamp Depot and was withdrawn before 1995 when the BC and Yukon Postage Stamp Depot was moved to Edmonton. These in-house numbers are extremely rare but do appear from time to time on regular mail. A complete listing of all the 10 digit numbers for British Columbia would run to over 30 pages and would only further muddy an already confused situation. Continued from page 161 and societies in Australia are affiliated with their relevant State Council. Judges are accredited nationally in their area of expertise, or at the state level. FIP type score sheets are used for all judging classes. They have even experimented with postcard exhibits at their national shows with separate judging guidelines, awards and teams of judges! Philately is therefore strongly organized in Australia. A new publication “National Exhibitions. The Jury. Its Leadership and Procedures” prepared under the direction of APF has been published by the National Association of Philatelic Exhibitors (NAPE), as Special Paper No. 2, of The Asia Pacific Exhibitor. (This journal which is published four times a year has just completed volume 12; has 350 members and is of interest to all judges and exhibitors.) The new paper on National Exhibitions makes interesting reading, though closer to the FIP scene than occurs at Canadian national exhibitions. Available for AU $7 from Hans Karmen, Secretary/Treasurer NAPE, PO Box 462, Civic Square, ACT 2608, Australia (overseas membership in NAPE is AU $30/year). This new trend in developing Agreements between countries is not restricted to Canada. The APS has recently signed a similar agreement with Australia, and are about to sign an agreement with Great Britain. These Agreements can only help develop an exchange of views, ideas and information on philatelic exhibiting and judging in our world-wide hobby. Le philatéliste canadien / The Canadian Philatelist Juillet - Août 2000 / 163
Page 1: The $5.00 - 5,00$ Canadian Philatel
Page 4 and 5: President’s Page / La page du pr
Page 6 and 7: I would recommend anyone seriously
Page 8 and 9: The Short Story Column By “Racont
Page 10 and 11: WANTED *Canadian Covers Pre-1980 *
Page 12 and 13: Charter of Rights 36-cent It is a f
Page 14 and 15: Modern Stamp Collecting by J.D. Wil
Page 17: Judging Affairs - Reciprocal Agreem
Page 21 and 22: AR Covers With Postal And Philateli
Page 23 and 24: Figure 3(a). AR cover returned from
Page 25 and 26: Postage Rates of the German Democra
Page 27: Foreign 03/01/46 09/15/47 07/01/52
Page 31 and 32: Postmarked Ottawa by Hans Reiche Re
Page 33 and 34: Before You Sell Your Stamps Talk To
Page 35 and 36: New Signatories to the Roll of Dist
Page 37 and 38: Silver Newfoundland 1890 & 1897 Sur
Page 39: Priced Catalogue of New South Wales
Page 42 and 43: JULY 30-AUGUST 5, 2001: PHILANIPPON
Page 44 and 45: Chapter Meetings/Réunions des club
Page 46: TRURO PHILATELIC SOCIETY Success Bu

Phil pages July-Aug-Final - The Royal Philatelic Society of Canada

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