Twice In One Day

And they wonder why they're loosing business......

Bob, what did they do to the one from Brooklyn? Slit it
along the top?
Mike

Bob:

What is wrong with the Canadian letter? I put the cheap stamps along the top and the good 48-center at the bottom. The postal clerk hand-cancelled the stamps for me; and as I expected, it got a spray-on cancel along the top... which is fine. What else is wrong? I cannot tell from the scan.

David

Bob, thanks for the offer but I have the mountain sheet !!

Seems like some of you haven't spotted the Postal vandalism that took place !

The top one [From Canada] has a huge chunk missing bottom left.

The 'Brooklyn' cover has one of those annoying tag code stickers over all three stamps. They are not easy to soak off.

Philb.....I sympathize.

Londonbus1.....Spotted the vandalism straight away

Londonbus.. You are correct on both. Davids envelope arrived in a plastic bag..looks like no stamps were missing.

Okay... now I see it!

Yike!

Darn sorting equipment, eh?



David

Is there a prize for the effort ??

Londonbus1....I never win anything !

Yeah, it's either the sorting equipment or the cancelling machine.

Let me tell you from experience -- there is nothing worse than a Klussendorf machine that has a hunger for thicker envelopes, because the speed of the machine when loaded with a full bin of letters treats them all as if they were normal. Anything bulgy or sticking up will cause the letter to turn on the belt, which will at least scrunch it up or worse still, shred it like the one David sent out. I assume the sorting machines all use the same type of belts, because the damage is the same.

I see that the stamps were hand-cancelled, which is fine, but they still ran it through a machine anyway.

What to do? A few solutions come to mind.

1. Use non-standard envelopes. What I usually do is start with a manila envelope, 9 x 12. If what you're sending could fit into a #10 envelope, put it in sideways so that it all rests along the length of the left side of the envelope, which is now the new bottom of the envelope you're making from the manila one. Fold it in half with the flap open and extending below the new bottom. Seal the flap and bring it up to the new front. Add the addresses, and in capital letters in red, add the words "HANDCANCEL & HANDSORT, PLEASE". This should prevent it from going into any machines. Make sure to seal the sides of this new envelope with tape.

2. If you're determined to use regular #10 envelopes anyway, cut two thin pieces of cardboard out of a food box (I use boxes from Little Debbie snacks) or a file folder, just a little smaller than the envelope. Put the stamps you're sending between the cardboard and tape them in there and place stamps and cardboard inside envelope. The smoothness of this cardboard protector will make sure the envelope glides through the machinery.

3. As far as protecting the stamps, the best method I've seen requires some degree of co-operation from your postal clerk. Get some stick-on plastic pockets, like the ones used by companies for Bills of Lading, and have a piece of thin cardboard the same size as the inside of the pocket. Once you have the stamps needed to send the item, put them on the cardboard, and get the clerk to handcancel them. Put the cardboard with the now cancelled stamps in the pocket and stick the pocket to the envelope, and put a piece of tape across the pocket to make sure it stays there. Make sure to write in red the same "HANDCANCEL & HANDSORT, PLEASE" request on the item.

I know that this last one is perhaps a little extra work, but the results show for themselves. When I worked on the Post Office counter, we had a couple of customers who used this method, and it didn't cause any problems. If nothing else, it will make sure that sortation stickers put on the item don't cause any damage.

I erred !

Bob...I sympathize.

Londonbus1.....The erroneous one