Mint Stamps

I'm guessing that fewer than 50% of the stamps I get on my mail these days arrive canceled. Stamps used on packages or otherwise non-machinable mail rarely show up canceled. If you're shipping a small (13 oz or less) parcel and you want the stamps canceled, you basically have to hand them to a clerk and tell them to hand cancel them. If you drop them in a box, they're almost guaranteed to come uncanceled or even worse, pen canceled by the letter carrier.

I know TinMan, it is just the confusion arising from the imprecise term 'MNG' or 'mint no gum' that prompted my post. MNG seems to be used with growing frequency.

Terry

I actually prefer the term "unused, no gum". If selling stamps that have gone through the mail uncanceled, they should be described as "used, but uncanceled".

TheArtfulHinger so then a seller could be deceptive . Soak those uncancelled stamps off the paper and sell them as MNG or unused. Then someone like me the buyer pays the higher price. I'm deceived. Or if mixed in my pile of stamps I could paste the stamp to an envelope and use it as postage or put it in my album thinking it is a unused stamp when in actuality it is used and has been through the postal system.

TinMan has succinctly summed up pretty much what I suspect is going on, but for illegal re-use it must be the bulk sellers who are the real offenders. On balance I would buy a classic stamp that had lost its gum, had no other faults, and where it would make an otherwise out of reach stamp accessible.

Terry

I would like to promote the use of the term NYP (Not Yet Posted).

It carries the connotation that something should have happened that did not yet happen, much like an unsprouted seed or unfertilized egg, and avoids the positive connotations of the word 'mint'.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey