Marker Monkeys And Other Stamp Crimes.

Darn monkeys are everywhere......


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Ouch...would have been a complete set of the Civil Rights Pioneers Stamps...I noticed that the right side area has a postmark..they could have just applied the postmarks on the stamps. Playing devil's advocate on the other hand, maybe they thought the postmark won't be legible coz the stamps were in dark color

That's a shame. Would have been a good set to have.

I'm sorry, but the more I think about it, the more I can't think of any real excuse to destroy stamps like that. It has to be meanness or laziness. It's just too easy to reach over and pick up a proper hand canceler. Its almost as if there is a corporate culture of destroying collectible stamps on purpose.

I wonder if we'd see a little less of this if the USPS stopped approving so many black/dark stamps ??

I have done some checking and in the book that I received from SCF clearly states that this type of cancellation is acceptable. At least it it permitted by the post office though it did show a pen cancel as the example.

My only suggestion is to hand these to the clerk and ask for a hand stamp cancel. This has worked for me, we have to remember it is only us stamp junkies that notice these sharpie cancels. Most people don;t care and probably never even look at the stamps.

I cant believe I have been victimized by the marker monkey and this time its not just American Mail....International Mail is now targeted as well

wow..I cant believe the post office do this kind of thing....there should be a rule against this

by the way, I was wondering if we have any recourse against the post office for the damage?

Here are a couple ugly (especially the second one) pen cancels I received:

Here are some comments from a contact of mine who used to work for the post office (20+yrs experience), after I sent her a link to this thread:

"When I sorted mail in the mornings and ran across a stamp that hadn't been canceled I was instructed to draw a line through the stamp so that it couldn't be reused by the receiver of the letter. There was no time to get up and go get a cancellation stamp to do that and it didn't matter to us as long it couldn't be reused. Stamp collectors never entered my mind as a problem. If I'd noticed that the stamp was old or something I might have noticed and hand canceled it but I doubt it. There are a lot of clerks sorting mail and speed in getting the mail sorted is the goal. I guess we could have had a slot to put the letters in to hand cancel but that might have delayed the mail by a day which is a big no-no. Basically it is not something a mean postal worker does; we get mean about other stuff! lol"

I fully agree with the postal worker's reply. Their job is to process and deliver the mail. Part of that responsibility is to prevent the re-use of postage -- and the pen/marker is often the most convenient tool. Believe it or not, there are actually a few collectors (very very few) who actively collect marker/pen/crayon canceled stamps. By actively collecting, I mean specifically that they will actually purchase stamps/covers that have been canceled in this manner.

The problem I have is shown in the very first picture/post in this thread. The stamps have clearly already been hand-cancelled by a formal CDS-device. There is absolutely no need to go over each and every stamp with a felt-tip marker. That is clearly a waste of time and not consistent with their job directives. That was done by a postal worker that had something else on their mind.

Their job is to process the mail.
There are guidelines for this, which if it includes drawing
a marker pen through postage, then it is a testimony
to the age we live in.
Oft times it is caused by 'return to investment"
everything is fast today, and we will pay the price.

The latest global epidemic is not aids, or bird flu,
it is depression.

I may be correct in my conclusion that "speed" caused
the oil blow out in the US?

The only speed we need to focus on today, is our attention
to global warming.
(end of rant)

A line is one thing, but what about a heap of lines.
Or has this one been to China or Japan.


Steve

The advert under Tiggersmob's post reads! The Pen REFILL Shop! Maybe it is for postal workers!