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| Christmas cancellation mark to coordinate with the Holiday Elves stamps |
This past month I've seen people questioning the USPS cancellation marks and especially the dreaded Sharpie marker through the stamp.
A friend's husband worked at the USPS as a postmaster and big boss of a mail distribution center. I had asked her to ask him why stamps sometimes have a Sharpie line drawn through them. He said:
Envelopes are put into the machinery upside down. The first thing the system scans for is the postage stamp which should be located in the upper right corner of your envelope. If the stamp isn't found there or it's in a different location, the envelope is kicked out of machinery. The envelope sits around until a human can come and take a look at it.
If for some reason the stamp(s) didn't get a cancellation mark over them (a hiccup in the machine), a clerk has to take the dreaded Sharpie or grease pencil and scribble over the stamp. This is to prevent the stamp from being used again.
Title 18, U.S. Code, Sections 471 and 1720: Once a postage stamp has been used, it is a federal crime to:
1. Remove, attempt to remove, or assist to remove cancellation marks from postage.
2. Reuse a stamp whether cancelled or not.
So like it or not the cancellation mark and Sharpie scribble have a definite function. Maybe it's best to embrace the marks as part of the artwork.
It might be fun to think that each mail clerk has a distinctive way of marking through the stamp similar to the way railroad conductors had distinctive ways to punch railway tickets.
On this eleventh day after Christmas, or Twelfth Night of Christmas depending on your reckoning
They do the same here, too, it spoils the stamps! Valerie
ReplyDeleteIf my stamps are on a mail art envelope, I ask the clerk to hand cancel. They try not to obliterate the entire stamp
DeleteI collected stamps as a kid, and even then there were cancellations over the stamps. I don't think it's avoidable, and I understand why they do it. The PO is already losing so much money. But on the art side, it is nice to have a stamp without a lot of marks on it, especially a big black Sharpie line. But then the PO isn't doing this just to ruin things for mixed media folks, are they?
ReplyDeleteYou can always try to ask the clerk to hand cancel the stamp.
DeleteI've actually been receiving alot of mail that the stamps have not been cancelled in anyway... weird.. Hugs! deb
ReplyDeletethat is very weird
DeleteWhen I was a kid it was fun to read the cancellations to see where they came from. At least it was to me! LOL
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I like the cancellation marks especially when the PO gets creative like the elves to coordinate with the Elf stamps
DeleteI hate it when they mark through the postage with a sharpie. I like to use my stamps in my art and it doesn't work when they are obliterated. I had one guy who not just marked through them, he also added an X, too.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, maybe view the marks as art instead of a scribble
DeleteI knew they had to be cancelled so they can't be re-used, but I don't think I've seen the sharpie line through them. (I have had some that weren't cancelled at all.)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've gotten stamps that haven't been cancelled or had the Sharpie line dragged through it.
DeleteI remember when I found out it was illegal to re-use a postage stamp.
ReplyDelete