Mr. Zip Comes Out Of Retirement Claremont, California 91711

Every once and awhile Mr. Zip reappears on one of these "Zip Meets Date" cancels, so I thought I'd share this one for 09/17/11 from Claremont, California 91711:

Very cool! I miss Mr. Zip.

wt1, is that from an FDC or other mail?

It was a special pictorial cancellation offered by the US Postal Service. Not a FDC (actually 3 days late for a FDC, as the stamp used on that cover was issued 9/14/11).

Actually, there are quite a number of cities and towns that promote the "ZIP Meets Date" cancellation where the date of the postmark (in this case 9/17/11) matches the ZIP Code of the city or town (91711). I look out for them, especially the ones with the "Zippy" cartoon character, as that is my personal favorite.

wt1, is there a list of post offices that do this or did you just ask for the service at your local postoffice?

Published bi-weekly in the "Philately" section of the Postal Bulletin. You have up to 30 days after the date of the event to send in covers with first class stamps for a cancellation. Here's the link to the website that provides this information:

http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/pb2011.htm

wt1, thanks for the URL. I have already backmarked it and now just have to send out some cancel requests.