Modern Latvia Registered Priority Cover W/No Postage

I just received this cover today. I bought a postcard from a dealer in Riga and the item was mailed back on Feb. 19. And then sat at Chicago customs since March 1. How did it get mailed without any visible postage? Since there's a CDS in the corner it must have been handed to a clerk. But no stamps or meter label? Is this just a fluke chance or is this more prevalent nowadays?

I posted here one such cover I received in the past 18 months or so, but I can't recall the country of origin. It was definitely European, though.

I will guess that since it is registered, the registration number and label takes care of everything including proof of payment. Registered mail remains very secure and is accounted for/scanned every time it gets handled. So there is no easy forging of a registry number or label; it gets checked a lot. Then again, scanner systems aren't 100% reliable as we've all found.

Thats the way it is in France also. The etiquette is pealed of the receipt (with all the relevant information;cost,names,insurance,ect), its then stuck on the cover.The post office then cancels the cover in your presence...You can pay the registered mail fee by putting stamps on the cover if you like.

Very early this morning the envelope still showed sitting in customs in Chicago so I was surprised to see it in my mailbox at 10:30. When I checked the tracking then it showed arriving in Milwaukee and then being left in the mailbox. USPS tracking is a joke lately!

John, I received an item from Latvia last week, in exactly the same condition. I suppose the bar code must indicate that it's been paid for; you pay postage and the label is affixef. Modern British post often has labels with a QR code. Sign of the times I suppose...

The cover shown by the original poster (OP) is the result of Latvijas Pasts (Latvian Post) implementing new procedures as of January 1, 2020. On this date it became possible to generate postage online, consequently the procedure also changed for how to send registered mail.

Registration barcode stickers are printed in rolls and usually affixed to the shipment at the post office. Registration sticker rolls may however be given to customers sending lots of registered letters.
The cover shown in the OP's image was handed in at the post office, and the registration sticker used on the cover is of the old format - registration number and barcode only.

Standard procedure since January 1, 2020 is not to affix postage stamps to registered letters, to keep in line with online generated postage. According to official procedure, it is possible however for stamp collectors to affix postage stamps to registered letters, but this is not encouraged by staff - and most staff are very anal when it comes to procedure. In other words, in most cases it is required to identify as a "stamp collector" to create a registered cover with postage stamps affixed.

The following two images below shows a similar registered cover that was sent from Broceni, Latvia to Japan, postmarked December 14, 2020.
A curious fact about Latvian registration barcode stickers of the old format is that they are not compatible with many other postal services tracking systems when it comes to registration barcodes. Hence the added label to the registered cover with text in Japanese with the explanation that the Latvian barcode is replaced by a Japanese barcode for further procedure.

(continues after the images...)



A registered letter affixed with postage stamps and registration sticker of the new format - registration number, barcode and the text: "APMAKSATS TAXE PERÇUE". This registration sticker is compatible with at least the Swedish barcode system (most likely with other UPU-members as well).

Over the decades, the US Postal Regulations observed that the incoming foreign source mail was not always prepaid with stamps affixed, but prepaid nonetheless. Thus unless certain the item was un or under paid, it was to be accepted as paid without an assessment of postage due. There is no reason to think otherwise even today, especially where marks of actual examination are on the cover.

There also exist a semi-new registration sticker that has the barcode and the width of the old format - and the text: "APMAKSATS TAXE PERÇUE" of the new format added.
As the old format barcode is not compatible with the Swedish barcode system, a new provisional registration label was added in Sweden, originally to the front of the cover, but it was possible to remove it, so I placed it on the back of the cover.
Note that the Swedish postal service does not break the trackability of the registered letter by keeping the original registration number on the provisional registration label.

It's rough when even a post office makes it hard for us collectors to collect stamps anymore.