W.B. Mason

On February 25, 1897, The American Stationer reported that William Betts Mason "has opened an office in the City Block at Brockton, Mass." with plans to "manufacture rubber stamps, stencils, and other articles of a like nature."[6] By March 25, it was reported as a rubber stamp store.[7]

The company started as a business that sold printed products, engraved products, and rubber stamps. As the city of Brockton expanded in the early 20th century, largely due to the shoe industry, W.B. Mason expanded its sales offerings to include office supplies.

In 1901, W. B. Mason's rubber stamps store received a $1.50 disbursement from the City Engineer of Brockton, Massachusetts alongside 24 other businesses, some of whom received over $100.[8] By 1912, it was referred to as a "stamp, stencil, and printing business."[9]

William Betts Mason ran the company until his death in 1912. The Mason family continued to oversee the company until the 1920s under William's wife, Marcena. In the late 1920s, W.B. Mason was sold to an employee and Brockton businessman, Samuel Kovner, who started his career out by sweeping the floors at W.B. Mason as a boy. Under Kovner, the company reached sales of $243,000.

W.B. Mason's original storefront above the Brockton Enterprise, 1940

William Betts Mason was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1865. After his father's death in 1871, he immigrated to the United States with his grandmother Agnes Dunn Bettridge, mother Janet C. Mason (née Bettridge) and sisters Sarah, Eliza, and Eadith Mason. In 1872 his family moved to Brockton, at the time known as North Bridgewater, to live with Janet's brother Arthur J.C. Bettridge. Mason's first occupation was as a counter maker and trimmer in Brockton.[13]

He married his first wife Clara W. Belcher of Randolph, Massachusetts in 1892.[14] He continued to work in the counter making field until 1893, at which point he went to work for S.W.S. Howard, a local printing company.[15] In 1896 he left S.W.S. Howard and went into business for himself, making specialty brass plates, checks, and rubber stamps.

W.B. Mason delivery truck

In 1898, Mason founded the W.B. Mason Company as a rubber stamp and stencil company. W.B. Mason continues to manufacture its own rubber stamps today. In December 1905, Mason married his second wife, Marcena D. Horton of Bristol, Rhode Island.[16] She ran the company from the time of Mason's death in 1912 until Samuel Kovner's acquisition of the company in the late 1920s.

Mason died in 1912. During his life, William Betts Mason sang around Brockton in the Gerrish Male Barbershop Quartet, and was a member of the Brockton-based Paul Revere Lodge of Freemasons. He was buried at Union Cemetery, a half mile from W.B. Mason headquarters. He left no children.

W.B. Mason provides products for the workplace. On www.wbmason.com the primary product lines include office and school supplies, paper, janitorial supplies, furniture, food and break room supplies, technology and electronics, food service, and custom print.

W.B. Mason also provides the following services:

• Interior design and contract furniture[17]
• Discount furniture[18]
• Custom products (print, ad specialty, apparel)[19]

W.B. Mason has over 60 distribution centers in the United States, and provides nationwide delivery services to its customers.

In October 2018, the company was sued for trademark infringement by Bloomington, Minnesota-based Dairy Queen — owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in Omaha, Nebraska and doing business as American Dairy Queen Corp.[27] — over using the term "Blizzard" and logo for its private-label bottled water.[28][29] A federal judge in June 2022 ruled in favor of W.B. Mason, allowing them to continue to use the name and logo.[30] W.B. Mason's attorneys, Nixon Peabody, called it "a complete win" for the company,[31] and NBC Boston described it as a W.B. Mason "victory."[32]

In April 2023, W.B. Mason agreed to a $5.65 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit claiming it failed to provide commissioned sales representatives with notice the company was changing commission terms.

The settlement benefits three classes: the New Jersey Class, the New York Class and the Pennsylvania Class.

The New Jersey Class includes individuals who worked for W.B. Mason as a commissioned sales representative based or working in New Jersey since April 2, 2015.

The New York Class includes individuals who worked for W.B. Mason as a commissioned sales representative based or working in New York since April 2, 2015.

The Pennsylvania Class includes individuals who worked for W.B. Mason as a commissioned sales representative based or working in Pennsylvania since April 28, 2017.