By the way, is there a post mark on the 1990 eureka envelope?

At the moment I don’t have an answer to your question. But does anyone else?

Soze

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Can’t delete posts, i agree good research, removing the clutter, apologises.

Speaking for myself, I don’t see Eureka needing to be looked at at present time. Doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be looked at in future or at least brought up now as something to consider later. Again, just me, but I don’t think we are wanting to consider any personal person of interest at this time either. Not on my agenda but could be someone else’s.

Soze

Soze, correct.

This thread should be about the postal research–only tangentially relating to anything else. This has been the best research done in a while. It shouldn’t devolve into finger-pointing at favorite POIs.

I don’t know whether this is something that anyone has tried before, but I have wondered about seeking and getting in contact with societies – and yes, there do appear to be some – whose main field of interest is in postmarks. Apparently, just as stamps are collected and studied by philatelists, postmarks are collected and studied by marcophilists (sometimes, marcophilatelists).

I found one such society of marcoffff…. whatever – the ‘Post Mark Collectors Club‘ – whose history goes back to the early ’40s. They are:

a U.S.-based … nonprofit organization dedicated to the study, acquisition and preservation of postmarks, postal history and its attendant ephemera.

They even have what they claim to be the world’s largest ‘postmark museum’, in Bellevue, Ohio.

At the risk of duplicating what may have been done already, I’ll drop them an e-mail and see if they can shed some light on what we’re trying to research here.

So, I’ve had quick turnaround reply to the request as per my previous post and, unfortunately, the result is pretty deflating. I’ll copy the essential points:

I hate to disappoint you, but, no, those codes have nothing to do with where the letter was sent from. They are machine numbers, indicating which machine in the San Francisco post office, and which of two or four cancelling dies within the machine, cancelled the letter. 2B means machine 2, die B.

Since the start of ZIP codes in 1963, mail has generally been processed at regional centers. That means that a San Francisco postmark doesn’t mean the letter was necessarily even mailed in San Francisco. Mail sent from anywhere with a ZIP code starting with 940, 941, 943 or 944 would have been cancelled at the same place. That means more or less San Francisco (941), and San Mateo County (940, 944) and Palo Alto (943). 942 either doesn’t exist, or its some kind of special ZIP code.

So, I’ve had quick turnaround reply to the request as per my previous post and, unfortunately, the result is pretty deflating. I’ll copy the essential points:

I hate to disappoint you, but, no, those codes have nothing to do with where the letter was sent from. They are machine numbers, indicating which machine in the San Francisco post office, and which of two or four cancelling dies within the machine, cancelled the letter. 2B means machine 2, die B.

Since the start of ZIP codes in 1963, mail has generally been processed at regional centers. That means that a San Francisco postmark doesn’t mean the letter was necessarily even mailed in San Francisco. Mail sent from anywhere with a ZIP code starting with 940, 941, 943 or 944 would have been cancelled at the same place. That means more or less San Francisco (941), and San Mateo County (940, 944) and Palo Alto (943). 942 either doesn’t exist, or its some kind of special ZIP code.

I was so afraid of that. Just yesterday I had mentioned hope that, at very least, the number still meant zone. That’s not the case either. So, it may seem true the fbi knew of a good portion of the mail locations via these machine codes and the PO. Good thing here is that we can lay all these number/letter thing to rest. They are meaningless.

When the person said regional I am assuming he is talking about the sectional center?

Would the 6 in 6B be the same meaning machine 6 die B

Have an image of sectional center coverage at zk.com. Covers all of San Francisco down to roughly San Jose.

Hmmm. What now?

Soze

Wow, excellent work. Interesting that the letters would have apparently been mailed from either San Francisco or the South Bay suburbs. Not sure many have considered Zodiac living in San Mateo county, so it’s a possibility that needs to be considered.

<So, it may seem true the fbi knew of a good portion of the mail locations via these machine codes and the PO.>

What do you mean?

Said San Jose but was thinking Sunnyvale. Here is some of what I wrote at zk in 2011 about sectional centers:

According to this site: http://www.admsi.com/blog/bid/10349/SCF … n-To-Do-ItThe postal service has what it calls a BMC (Now known as a NDC), a main hub for all of its post offices. There are 29 NDC’s covering the entire country. California is the only state that has 2 – one in Los Angeles and the other in San Francisco. The San Francisco NDC is located in Richmond. The NDC branches off into Sectional Centers. There are 17 sectional centers located in California alone. This list of sectional centers can be found at http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/L005.htm.The San Francisco sectional center covers zip codes with a 3-digit prefix of 940, 941, 943 and 944. These zip codes cover 3 counties: San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Mateo. Within these zip codes, there are 28 cities it covers:Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Daly City, El Granada, Half Moon Bay, La Honda, Loma Mar, Los Altos, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Millbrae, Mountain View, Montara, Moss Beach, Pacifica (My Favorite), Redwood City, Pescadero, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Gregorio, South San Francisco, Sunnyvale, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Stanford and San Mateo. The above list can be found at http://www.555us.com/555ca/555ca_zipcodes.htm.Here is a map showing the coverage area of the San Francisco sectional center:It should be noted that there are cities within the area outlined above that are not mentioned as being covered by any zip code. At this time, I do not know why that is. Anyway, I had mapped out all of the cities listed above, found it to be a little messy, and so I just put a border around the coverage area for visual purposes. As you can see, there is a wide area the Zodiac could have lived, worked or passed through to have had a San Francisco post mark. I do find the NDC reference interesting in regards to the locations within California coupled with the Zodiac letters as a possibility of the Zodiac having knowledge of the postal service. Could just be a coincidence though. Soze

FBI: I thought I read that some place. May be wrong.

Soze

<FBI: I thought I read that some place. May be wrong.>

That would be important to clarify.

I don’t have time today or tomorrow to dig for where I may have read it. I can say that a couple of nights ago I reread this thread up to page 24 to maybe 27. It may be there or might be at zk. I’ve read a few things about stamps there.

Whether I read it or, part of my imagination, it makes sense. Still don’t think we will ever pin a location. We aren’t privy to that knowledge about machine error locations.

Soze

<Still don’t think we will ever pin a location. We aren’t privy to that knowledge about machine error locations.>

Would machine errors matter, if the letters were all processed at the main hub?

Still – wondering if there were other clues as to mailing locations, that LE picked up.