Have You Ever Seen These ? Meters With Patriotic Themes

Hi Folks......

These were really common items when I was a beginner.....most collectors paid little attention to them but I always liked the patriotic themes even as a kid. They're a little hard to find now. Many still don't look at meters as something to collect but in all, I think I have about 40-50 or more different ones and almost 2 dozen colors.

I remember them, but never considered meters to be real stamps. Yes, they have some followers, and the slogans add interest to them.

Very interesting Tom!

Mod....."I remember them, but never considered meters to be real stamps."

A lot of folks feel that way...but...if it paid postage...it's a real stamp.

Wouldn't you agree ?

Nr_not rare I found this one...if you can use it we could work out a swap..its just a cover to me !

Hi Phil.....

What do you need ? or better....what would you like ?

Pretty neet stuff

Thanks for sharing

Dianne

Tom, maybe I'm narrow minded, but to me a "real stamp" is an official issue with all the official hoopla, recognized by Scott with the potential of filling a space in a standard postage stamp album. Meters are not official issues but surrogate stamps created on the fly as a matter of convenience, just like those stickers the USPS produces on their machines at every post office, today. People can collect them if they want but most seem to see them for what they are and don't bother.

Modern_who

The Patriotic Slogan meters are very collectable with some collectors. Am old enough to remember them on mail, especially those from WWII and Korean War era, never really collected them, but knew a few collectors around here in my youth who did.
Would always swap the ones I picked up for stamps, if only knew then what I know now would have hung on to some of them.

But like others and yourself, never really counted them as stamps, just something a mail clerk slapped on when you paid the fee cause he didn't feel like digging in his draw for a stamp

Hey that hasn't changed much today, if you go in to the PO and don't demand a stamp, clerks will just slap a meter tag to it.
Strange USPS wants to sell stamps, but most clerks can't be bothered with doing that.

Hi Mod......

When you say that "people see them for what they are" you seem to be implying that they are somehow not legitimate postage when in fact, they are.....as you stated, even the Post Office uses them......if they were not sanctioned by the Post Office they could not be used on any mail.

I agree that they are different from postal issues, but as philatelist we collect postage.........meters are legitimate postage and therefore they are collectible.

I also agree that if you view them as unworthy for your collection, that is certainly up to you.

And besides, these have the added patriotic mini-chachet.....what's not to like ?

nr-notrare
You got it right, if you pay a fee to the PO, be it for a fancy new issue stamp or meter tag, its postage.
Know many folks who collect "cut squares" from postal stationary, its still postage even if they don't happen to trip my trigger, the older ones are real collectable with some folks. Its all in what you want to collect, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Tom, I'm not implying anything about their legitimacy as postage, I'm just saying they are not, in fact, real stamps but stamp substitutes used for convenience. Every office can have a Pitney-Bowes and not have to have someone run down to the post office, even for those odd package rates, except to get their meter resupplied. But they are basically plain pieces of paper, each one new and different (even if an office put out a thousand in a day they would all have a different number, at least). No design was commissioned, no fist day ceremony held, no FDC's produced.

Hey, I did say people can collect them if they want. Some people used to collect just the postmarks from various cities, without the stamps! Some people collect buttons and thimbles. They can collect metered postage, but a piece of metered postage is not a stamp.

Also, I have been buying postage online to mail packages. These half-page labels, complete with the names and addresses of both sender and recipient are valid postage, but they are not stamps.

And it's the same with the older meters. Valid postage, but not real stamps.

Meter strips, or the newer labels are not canceled. Real stamps are.

Meter strips are never mint, they are used or they must be used in a timely way and can not be stored and still be valid for postage years later. Real stamps can.

Real stamps should not be confused with meter strips, metered postage, or now, the "Electronic Rate Approved" stuff!

Mod.....

I seem to be getting the impression that you have an opinion about meters........


I just wish you'd get over your shyness and tell me what you think.

OK, Tom, I will!

When your congressman has his signature printed on an envelope, it's valid as postage, but is it a stamp?

When I was in Vietnam, I just wrote "FREE" on the corner of an envelope and it was valid for postage, but was it a stamp?

But since you seem to like them, if I come across a few I've seen around here I'll set them aside and see if you're interested in them. Now that those slogan meters are less common and someone might want them, I certainly wouldn't throw them away! No more than the covers I don't collect but place on ebay.

i confess that when I send the APS circuit boxes back...i know they would love 8 dollars worth of stamps on the package...by the time I wait in line I let the clerk slap a label on it and go my way..i suppose I could take the postage money allocated me and buy a whole bunch of hi denomination stamps to use for 3 months or so...but aaah I do enough !!