Cancels On Metered Postage

Is it rare, or unusual to get a machine cancel on an envelope with a metered stamp ?????

That is a fantastic question Bob! My opinion on these has changed in a bit.

When envelopes are metered by batch by say a bank who has to mail statements, these meters are delivered as a batch to the postal service and enter the mail stream, so to speak, without going through the normal cancelling process.

What this says about cancelled meters then is that they are mostly one-offs. Some businesses and schools allow their employees or students to buy postage for personal mail through the use of a meter machine. These metered envelopes would enter the mail stream through the normal process, and would be cancelled as a result. The meter machine could also be used for one-off mailings of a more official manner that are put into the mail stream in the normal manner.

smauggie... that's pretty much what I figured...but..this is a commercial piece of mail with the new windmill cancel , but since it had a 46 cent metered stamp I guess it was most likely a single piece of mail sent by the company.

I sent the cover to one of my trading partners who collects windmills.

Thanks for the reply

This seems to fit in this topic rather than starting a new one...

I see metered envelopes with spray cancels at work, probably a couple a week, but this one caught my eye because it doesn't have the "killer" like I normally see:




Contrast to a regular spray cancel I'm used to seeing:



These were both on No. 9 window envelopes (same window placement, too). Both originated from 68803 but on different days.

I did note one other difference - the Zip and barcode at the bottom of the envelope. The font is different, the barcode is different, and even the format of the delivery Zip is different:



(Click for Larger. 68802-ABCD = our Zip +4, the EF are extra identification digits, I assume.)

ETA: The barcode on the top is from the top envelope, and the barcode on the bottom is from the bottom envelope (the one with the spray cancel I'm used to seeing). To add even more confusion to the mix, looking through the few recent envelopes I do have on hand from this week, they all have the Zip and barcode like the TOP envelope.

Zuzu: Coincidentally, I was just going to post a question about the very same thing.

Here are two varieties of cancels on mail received today (#10 envelopes) and the one postmarked Westchester NY does not have the killer bars either. It's also interesting to note that they have abbreviated the year in the date by using " '14 " instead of " 2014 ":





But curiously at the bottom of the envelope the one with the ZIP and "$" followed by the ZIP+4 numbers, etc., is on the Brockton, MA postmark with the killer bars; the one with the ZIP and ZIP+4 numbers together are on the Westchester NY postmark.

I've never known meters to have a spray on cancel at the top (with or without killer bars) unless one happens to go through the wrong mail equipment, or the date doesn't agree with that imprinted on the meter. In the case of the Omaha, NE postmark posted earlier, there is a variance as the postmark is dated Monday, 03/10/2014 whereas the date on the meter is Friday, 03/07/2014; but not so on the Brockton, MA postmark, so it seems that is not a valid explanation either.

Could there be a new USPS arrangement in place as to handling metered mail like this?

wt1: an explanation for the spray on cancel would be that the sender dropped the piece either in a street collection box or the 'stamped letter' box at the post office. Since there is no local sort to separate the indicia types, it would go through the cancelling process at the processing facility. Usually large mailers/mailrooms separate the indicia type to bypass the cancellation process by either traying the mails and delivering to the back dock or dropping smaller volumes in the meter drop at the local station or branch. Note also that the pieces are short paid. I do not believe their is a $.01 discount for metering (I could be wrong)and that to receive a discount rate there would need to be a permit in place and large volume of mail pieces sorted to receive the discount.

eligies, actually, there is a one penny discount for metered mail up to the first ounce. It went into effect with the last increase.

The curiosity is not the fact that the metered pieces were spray cancelled, rather it is the differences in spray cancel type and ZIP/barcode type that has us wondering. :)

(Edited to spell eligies' username correctly. )

That is similar to the envelopes I posted. The one with the $ and +4 is the envelope WITH killer bars, and the one with the +4 and two extra digits is the envelope without killer bars.



That's what I'm wondering... but I feel certain that I've seen that type of spray cancel without the killer bars before. I don't generally save metered pieces, though, unless one catches my eye for some reason, so I'm not sure I have anything at home with that type of cancel.

I'll be watching more carefully now for more spray-cancelled metered mail to see if we can't figure this out. ;)

I was able to find a couple more:





The date on the second one is pretty much illegible, but I'm certain it's "06 MAR 2014" as I received it 03/07/2014.

Whether/not mail is metered or stamped, it still needs to be 9-digit barcoded for sorting to the delivery route.

Barcoded without killer: metered mail went thru the metered stream, properly, so why waste ink on a killer?

Barcoded with killer: metered mail went thru the stamped stream, so it gets the whole ugly treatment.

Metered mail that is dropped in a street collection box, securely rubber-banded, will go thru the metered stream.

Metered mail that is dropped in a street collection box loose, or comes loose, will go thru the stamped stream.

Been there, done that, for ~2 years.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Obviously, we've all seen a piece of metered mail get a spray-on cancel every now and then, but up until this past week, I have never seen a spray-on cancel "postmark" without some sort of "killer bars" or some graphic to replace it. Can you provide an earlier example?

It seems that a spray-on postmark that only contains the date and location of posting (without killer bars) is new to metered mail. Maybe it has something to do with the USPS machinery noting a new (reduced) postage rate for metered mail? Or maybe new equipment can recognize metered mail from stamped mail to the point where the equipment knows when to apply the "killer bars" and when not to? In any event, I have never seen it before this past week.

Zuzu: yea.. I should have checked the new rate chart before the comment-not after. The $.48 is for residue pieces in a pre-sorted mailing over 500 minimum. I think that there is a minimum # for each separation type and if you make the minimum piece # you get to use a discount rate (depending on sort) and if you have residuals, you can get a minimum $.01 discount on those residuals. (like <10 to a city or state) Still if you can use the discount for pre-sort, why did the piece go through a cancelling process?? Seems to defeat the purpose of the pre-sort discount..??

eligies:

The $0.48 meter rate is not affected by presort or any minimum quantity. Anyone with a postage meter can use the $0.48 rate for a standard first class letter. The $0.48 rate also applies to online/PC postage, too. It seems the only ones who pay the $0.49 first class letter rate are those customers who still use stamps!

http://www.fp-usa.com/48-cent-club-...er-discount/

https://www.pb.com/docs/US/PDF/Micr...ceNotice.pdf

thanks wt1.. I remember when the manual was a small ring binder behind the counter that was updated by replacing updated pages as changes came out. It is now getting to be as large as the IRS tax code manual and just as confusing...

From today's mail, make of them what you will:

Just curious if all your metered mail is coming in with the spray-on postmarks (without killer bars) or just a select few. I believe the previous post was correct about placing a metered mail item in a conventional mailbox that would ordinarily bear stamps and thus it receives a postmark; but if all of the new metered mail is coming in with a spray-on postmark (without killer bars) it could be a new trend.

Could it be a means to respond to a constantly frustrating issue by people who cannot prove an exact mail date; as the metered date is not valid in most cases to confirm date of mailing? If you're talking about businesses paying their utility or tax bill, I can see where it could be of some value. On the other hand, it seems like more work for the USPS if they are going to now cancel all of the metered items that goes through the US Mail.