Inkjet - Return Service Requested, San Juan, 1999

I've had this puzzler (to me) for some time. Postage is paid by a SAN JUAN 33-cent PRESORTED FIRST CLASS meter dated March 25 which is tied by the RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED inkjet marking, dated the next day March 26 at san Juan



The puzzle to me is, at what instruction by whom was this inkjet applied? The cover has no return address.

I find the inkjet printings at the bottom a nice modern postal history aspect, as well as AUTO 61414, the ZIP of the addressee.

Comments and suggestions are certainly welcome. Thanks, Jeff

The "Presorted First Class" means nothing since this has the full 33 cents on it, but good catch on the meter date ....

The spray was applied to "correct" the stale date of the meter.
Who applied it? I am somewhat unsure. The inkjet is in standard postal format, ending in "PR 009".
I have seen these applied by private mail processing firms. The smaller font print and the diagonal application make me lean toward a non-USPS applier.

The "return service requested" message came along for the ride, meaning nothing without a return address. The message was likely applied to everything without regard to any return address.

It gives the impression of a mailroom employee sending out a personal mail piece in the company mail.

To expand on "stale date", metered mail MUST be mailed on the date set. You will find added meter tapes or strikes on mail for $0.00 to correct/update the date originally printed, normally done by the sender and not the PO.