Question About Pen Cancels

I don't mind pen cancels on old stamps but the modern pen canceled stamps look horrible!

I only have a few in my collection, these are my favorites that I have with pen cancels.



I especially like the top left one. :)

I quite like the other two, myself.
Probably because they have the propensity towards being identified
with a particular postmaster.
The written date example may be a fiscal usage?

Nevertheless all stamps have an avarice quotient of 4.8
on my desirometer.

Just received a parcel from London. Had one of the new 5 pound Machins with the security slits---yep, you guessed it. Cancelled with a ball point pen.

I had some ball-point mail this summer too, Humpy. And one marker monkey (Sharpie) that really hurt my feelings...

Okay folks, I am way late to this discussion. To whomever doesn't like pen cancels please, feel free to send them all to me..
Thank You.

I don't mind the 19th Century "Manuscript" pen cancels. They are better than a big ole non-fancy cork killer/blob (unless you have the whole cover with the CDS). I even like the early 20th century manuscript R.F.D. cancels if it has the initials of the postmaster or date. However, the modern pen cancels that look like they were scrawled by a meth-crazed monkey hooked up to 220 voltage are indeed most foul.

To help avoid some if it, always kindly request hand canceling. I've even had a few places let me do it when they are busy or I have a large load. Smaller post offices are better at it than the larger ones in my experience. Sometimes when I get a parcel that hasn't been canceled at all I get my post office to cancel them with the 4-bar handstamp (black ink) or the little CDS (red ink).

now that you mention it, when I went to the post office to get my FDC's canceled... the post mistress made the CDS up for me with the correct date and then handed it to me to cancel them all.

When I lived in Mitchellville, Maryland I trained two of the post offices there to do that. Perfect socked-on-nose or quarter-circles on the corners postmarks every time. I also had a post office in Lexington, Kentucky do that for me. The clerk once screwed up the date so about 25+ covers went out with the day as 00 before I noticed the error.

Wow, SV. That is service.