Super Heavy Duty 76p Machin??

Hi all

I just got a postcard from Great Britain. It has what I though was just the usual Machin stamp on it. BUT, apon inspection, I saw that it has not only two die-cut areas, but also ROYAL MAIL overprinted over the face in what looks like a tagging-style ink. Below is the best photo I could take of it:



Since I am no expert in British issues, I am curious as to the Royal Mail's decision to put some heavy-duty security on this stamp.

JD

Well I can tell you that they no longer machine cancel postal items. The additional security features are intended to provide the security against re-use that postal cancellations once did.

This might help:




If you look at the second line of overprint on the stamp you scanned the M11L year code is clearly visible.

It's costing Royal Mail a fortune for something they should have got right in the first place. [Cancelling Mail is so difficult for RM].

You will notice the second from top [left] line of security printing has a 1 or I [straight line] instead of an 'A'. This is the year code and shows it was an issue for 2011.
If you continue on the same [wavy] line, you will see the word 'MAIL' like it says all over. But had this been a Booklet, business sheet or other kind of format, the letter 'A' would have been replaced with another letter denoting the source.

Wonderful stuff isn't it !
And all because the Royal Mail cannot cancel stamps

Londonbus1

Edited to say I was 9 minutes behind wt1 with much of the info. Must be tired !

Hi JD, I don't know if you've noticed but one of the "ROYALMAIL" texts on this stamp in fact says "ROYALMIIL" indicating the year 2011.

On some Machins you also get extra codes indicating the source of the stamp (booklet pane format etc.) and there have already been four different formats of the security slits.

I had to really look to see the year! Londonbus's "directions" helped! It seems silly, though, that the Royal Mail should just plain stop cancelling stamps. What a silly thing to stop doing...

JD,

They haven't stopped cancelling stamps, it is just not a priority anymore.
I think they could have saved money by asking countries like Germany,Sweden etc for help, but they didn't.

Ah, I see... sort of...

You can still get hand-cancels in Great Britain, and some specialized machine cancels (see stampgal's John O'Groats thread).

I've received about 5 of the large gold machins and soaked a couple. Certainly once soaked they can't be reused so that worked. Another today had one of the slits torn away so that worked to. Had no idea any of this was for canceling measures but makes a bit of sense. Just for side notes the couple I did soak were saved but I wouldn't recomend it. However the one pictured seems more like a regular stamp so it may slide off.

Next time you look at a price tag on something at a store, look for small die-cuts. I think they are there so that you can't just peel off the price and put in on a more expensive item. I know that the toy chain Toys R Us here in the US has price tags like that. Once you peel them off, they tend to get damaged and you can't stick them on another item. Sooooooo, when you soak off one of these new stamps, it may very well cause damage so that someone can't just glue it onto another envelope.

Let me understand (Ha, that's highly unlikely) Are regular mail cancellations obsolete in the UK? I had not thought it through, but that would save a ton of money. Maybe the USPS could come up with a similar system.

There's a difference in saying "we no longer cancel mail" and saying "some don't get canceled, so we've designed a stamp that can't be reused anyway."

I think Royal Mail is taking the latter position.

KirkS

I don't think it has anything to do with cancellation per se but to stop re-use (which is cancellation related) and counterfeiting which is a growing issue for them. The 76p is unlikely to be affected by counterfeiting as much as the 1st and 2nd class items.
They are easy to remove though with certain readily available liquids as the market for uncancelled 1st and 2nd class use 'for philatelic purposes only' is a big money spinner on ebay.

The other security features are the elliptical 'perfs'

If Royal Mail promise to cancel all my stamps on my mail, I promise never to mention 'Gluestick' and I promise never to send any uncancelled stamps to friends or family. [Well, I wouldn't need to would I].

But we all know that will never happen.
Because RM just don't have a clue how to consistently cancel stamps.
It's no wonder they are in a mess and hiring someone from Canada Post to sort them out.

Good luck.

Londonbus1

LB I think you owe it to all us Brits to go round to Royal Mail and Sort Them Out while you are over here this month.