Strange Meter Mail

Hi all. My first upload. Now I can show off my fantastic new acquisition below, compliments of a book store and the USPS. It may indicate why the USPS is loosing money -- They don't charge enough for their meter mail!!

i have seen packages with similar meters to show date of shipment..but the ones I saw had postage stamps on them as well !

Yes, quite common, I have tens of them
I think a label to confirm postage on a package
has been weighed and postage placed is correct.

Would the USPS be losing money because people are
using skips then perhaps?

there were no stamps on this one.

Did the shipping label give any indication that postage had been paid?

I have several of these type of USPS labels, too.

The sad part about them (to a collector, anyway) is that the labels deteriorate over time and eventually the printing will become lighter and eventually unreadable and ultimately destined for the trash. I don't know that there is anyway to preserve these things as a postal history item, other then to keep them in a dark place and not expose them to too much light but, as I understand it, all of these label-type prints only have a shelf life of a decade or two at which time the printing will eventually disintegrate (similar to thermal printing used on an old calculator or cash register receipt).

I would be interested to hear from others if they have had similar experiences with these labels and/or if they have found a solution to long-term preservation. As stamps decline from today's mail, these labels could become a future collectible, if only there is a way to preserve them over the long term.

Interesting, I didn't know they would degrade. Just for fun I'll collect some and spray with Krylon epoxy enamel, lacquer, polyurethane and anything else I can find and see what happens. Spraying lightly with multiple coats might help prevent running.
Goody, a new research topic!!

I've seen hundreds of these at work also. Sometimes the label maybe put over any other type of postage either stamp or meter.

[quote][I would be interested to hear from others if they have had similar experiences with these labels and/or if they have found a solution to long-term preservation. As stamps decline from today's mail, these labels could become a future collectible, if only there is a way to preserve them over the long term.
/quote]

Singapore meter labels disappear even quicker,
possibly 5 years. (the dot matrix printing)
Not found a solution other than scanning
to keep the image.

The quality of the printing on these varies widely. The color strip can be a deep orange pink, or a barely perceptible faded rose. I tried to clean one up with an eraser once, and it took off part of the color strip too.

Another example received today from Jeff
(13 days transit US to country west aust)

$0 meter with strange 15/3 mark on all my us packages

I know of several important uses of $0.00 meters:

1. USPS likes to keep statistics on how long it takes for mail to be delivered.
The meter has this information.

2. The $0.00 meter also indicates that the parcel was accepted at the counter and full postage was paid.

3. Even though I could place a tax return in the mail without going to the counter, I like to get a $0.00 meter to show that the return was mailed by the due date.

A 14oz thick large envelope I deposited at a drop box was returned to me shortly after mailing it. I went to the PO to ask why and was told that as part of recent security rules within the past few years, any mailing over 12oz (if I recall correctly) must be presented in person and have a metered label. I simply told them what the contents were, they promptly applied a $0.00 label and sent it on its way.