Modern US Postage Meters

Here's a nice neopost from today's mail:



ETA: Unfortunately, my images are coming out cruddy because I'm stuck with the scanner at work and can't change the settings.

I'm not really collecting meters, but I'll clip one here and there from if it looks interesting. Here are a few from the batch of office mail I clipped yesterday.

Postalia (not quite as nice as the Franklin, MA, one that wt1 posted earlier in this thread):



I guess someone forgot to download the new rates:



Gotta make sure no one tries to reuse that metered postage:

This may be a little off topic but I was just at an auction and initially started to bid on a set of Metered stamps but they were all postage due metered stamps.

At first I thought they were normal meter stamps but later found out that the postage due maybe rare.

Can anyone shed any light on Postage Due Meters? I'm curious about the use and the rarity of these items.

I love postage meters, and collect them avidly.

PK stamper - certain meters have been used for postage due. In my experience, this was often done for a company to pay postage due on their business reply mail. Somewhere I have a business reply postal card with two $5 postage due meter tapes on in, showing it was used for that purpose. Because of the limited usage, they are scarce.

I was going through some uncataloged meters in my collection and recently found one that cataloged $25!

Here's a postage due meter from 1991 that was applied by the USPS. Additionally, the meter indicia is green, which is not too common. Today, the USPS would apply a postage label rather than a meter to show payment:

That's a nice usage, wt1. The US PS in the town marking is unsual as well, I suspect.

Here is an IA3 Type Bb high value stuck to backing paper with a manuscript "Postage Due" in pencil. On closer inspection, the writing is in pen.

Sometimes "simplier" looks better (cleaner, anyway). Checkout this recent mailing received using a Neopost meter. I believe it's from the Neopost "IS" Series (2008) and is identified in the catalog as an R7(B):

Thanks. Looks like I missed out on a good opportunity. There was probably 30-40 meters of various denominations from about 1c to the dollar range. The group started in auction for 1$ but I let it go at about $3.00



Live and learn.

Here's a possible variation in a Neopost meter I just received in today's mail:




An excerpt from the on-line catalog shows the following:



Although the example shown is unquestionably an R6(B) and there is a notation at the bottom of the catalog listing that "variations in thickness of value figures and date have been observed", the above example takes it a step further. In addition, to the bolder date and denomination, the use of the word "PRSRT" spelled out as "PRESORT" is different and there is no hyphen shown between the words "FIRST" and "CLASS". Yet another variation of the same design.

All of my R6B impressions so far (though I have quite a few I haven't gone through yet) show the same thickness in the numbers and letters as yours. I have some R6As with various mail classes, though none with your specific mail class.

Here is an IA7 in black I found today. It is quite striking.

Going back to the previous post about Hasler/Neopost R6 varieties, here's one from yesterday's mail. In this case a Hasler R6(a) imprint, but instead of using the word at the bottom "PRESRT" or "PRESORT", it uses the word "PRESORTED" (adding the "ED" on the end) ... there's also no hyphen used between "FIRST" and "CLASS":

I have been trying to think of a term for this part of the meter (for thsoe meter types that can list a mail class). I am thinking it should just be called Mail Class Indicator. The I, M, P and R type meters have them, and perhaps others I cannot think of at the moment.

I think it should be called the slug. This is from the on-line International Postage Meter Stamp Catalog:



Here's an M9D with a slogan I received in today's mail. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of this slogan.



Robert