Computer Vended Stamps (2012)

One question, lorddenning bought two high values, $2.10 and $3.65. What are these amounts used for?

Peter


$2.10 is for over sized letter mail (over 100g. up to 200g.)
#3.65 is for over sized letter mail (over 400g. up to 500g.)
Within Canada....

After reading studystamps' initial post I decided to head downtown (Friday January 12) to see what all the fuss is about.

Since all three Toronto locations are within a kilometer apart I figured taking the Subway from Finch would put me within walking distance of them all if I got off at King station.

I therefore decided on the Canada Post Office in the concourse
at the Toronto Dominion Center at Wellington & Bay.

When I got to the kiosk a young lady customer was just
completing a purchase for one $1.80 international rate
stamp (don't think she was a stamp collector)

When my turn came with the machine and I appeared to be struggling with the prompts,the nice lady from Canada Post
who was standing at a counter right beside the kiosk asked if I was a stamp collector.
She mentioned that another collector from Brampton was there yesterday. Was that you lorddenning?

So I got a few sets (domestic, USA, International) and the CP lady showed me how to get different rates for oversize letters, which sorry to say I did not purchase.

I asked the CP lady why these kiosks were only in DT Toronto and so close together.

She she said that this is only a Pilot Project so far to gauge demand and these locations were picked due to heavy traffic areas where customers who only want to get maybe one or two stamps don't want to wait in line at the counter.
I was in the concourse around noon and yes there were tons of office people going for lunch, etc.

Not too busy at the Canada Post Office though. Like who mails letters any more ?

I noticed that all the stamps (which as been mentioned previously drop down individually) have an indentation on the lower left of the brown backing paper, due probably to the appliance which separates and moves the stamp along.



Only one stamp had these black lines which were mentioned
by studystamps. Guidelines?




I stuck one domestic rate stamp on an envelope and addressed it to myself but lo and behold when I went to the Newmarket Post Office, I found it was closed on Saturadys.
So I headed down to Aurora (next little town near me) and guess what?
That one is closed permanently which is a pity since all the employees
there and especially the Postmaster were always very helpful there.

So I just deposited the letter in a mail box which means it will be cancelled (if at all) on January 14, 2013 when the new rates take effect which basically defeats the reason for me mailing the letter in the first place.

Hard to pick any up in Vancouver this weekend just before the postal rate increase on Monday because both of the London Drug sites are out of service.

Hello - I just wanted to share my adventure visiting this kiosk. I went on my lunch break on Friday to the Adelaide Post Office (Toronto). The first stamp that came out of the machine only had the maple leaf picture - the bar code/price was on a second little sliver of stamp. A big error message popped up on the screen telling me to take an error receipt to the counter for a refund.

The pleasant staff refunded me for the stamps that were charged to my card. They have to refund each stamp one at a time. Because I was at the cash, I missed it when the other woman opened up the machine to fix it. (It would have been cool to see the inside.)

When I went to get my stamps reprinted, she stayed with me to make sure it worked okay. What she figured was that the little indentations in the paper (pictured in the post above) got deeper as time went on, causing the stamps to catch and jam. There were quite a few triangle shaped pieces of paper left in the dispensing area suggesting that they had been tearing for a while before I got there.

Not sure if this experience sheds any light on what causes the indentation. I just wanted to share since I'm new here.

So basically you got a blank stamp? Did you keep it?

Unless I'm mistaken, the error you had would be considered a major misprint and quite valuable.

If I was to ever be sold a stamp that appeared to be an error, I would forgot the refund, quietly leave the Post Office immediately and dance down the street.

Must start following dancing people out of the post office...seems to me they are carrying valuable stamps. :)

LOL !

No I didn't get to keep it. I was thinking afterwards that I should have. But I'm new at collecting and on a very short lunch break.

, I had the same problem! The two London Drugs machines not working and the two Canada Post retail offices closed on Sunday.

A wasted trip from Langley on the new Express Bus - Sky Train service from Langley to downtown Vancouver.

BTW, great scans Litho. The hidden date is very clear.

I live in Montreal. With the new tariff today I suppose that those stamp changed. Is someone interested of buying them for me ? I'll repay. Thanks.

Thanks BC. So you didn't get any copies at all?

No I did not get any Litho.

I did learn how to use the machine though . It let me press all the buttons but when it came to payment the following message came up:

"We apologize. A general error occured."

The transaction was then cancelled.

One thing I learned about the machine is that 7 different values could be printed, 2 more than Lorddenning has.

For the old rates, they were:

0.61 Domestic up to 30g
1.05 Domestic 30g to 50g, or up to 30g to the U.S.
1.29 Domestic 50gto 100g, or 30g to 50g to the U.S.
1.80 International up to 30g
2.10 U.S. 50g to 100g
2.58 International 30g to 50g
3.65 International 50g to 100g

No doubt these have all changed with the new rates effective today.