"Snail Mail" Cancellation From BC

Today I received a curious cancel from White Rock, BC. This does not appear to be an official post office cancellation -- there is no date or location indicated and no back stamp. This seems like something outside regulation. Anyone have more info?

While I don't see one exactly like yours, I have captured these 4 images from ebay of rubber stamps available from the craft world. Canada Post should have frowned on this happening at the mail ing end by the sender, so I would vote that this was done in the U.S. and most likely by your carrier in place of the "monkey marker" cancel of a ball point pen or a Sharpie. I have heard of some carriers having their own rubber stamps instead using a pen/marker.





Add: Here is an image cropped from a full cover. The cancels were applied by a carrier I personally know on the receiving end "to protect the revenue".

I don't know about the rules in Canada, but in the US, as I'm sure you both know, any qualified sender can apply for a Mailer's Postmark Permit and cancel their own mail with whatever design they want, within certain limitations.

Here are a couple of examples.



There is even a Mailer's Postmark Permit Club that collects such markings,
http://www.shaulisstamps.com/mppc/index.html

If you received your Par Escargot cover in the mail recently, why not send a postcard (or email) back to the sender to get information directly from them? I suspect the sender is the creator and origin of the cancel, it seems like too much work for someone further down the stream to create such a nice presentation.
Let us know what you find out. :-)

I hadn't considered that this might have been done by the sender, but I wouldn't rule out a mail carrier with a custom rubber stamp. It certainly is intended to look "postal". And since it is in English and French ("Par Escargot"), I'm more inclined to think it's Canadian.

As to a Mailer's Postmark Permit, I don't know whether those exist in Canada, but if this were a U.S. MPP, wouldn't it have to have the city of origin?

There is a return address. Write to the sender and ask him if he applied the cancel.

DonSellos

I heard back from the seller about this:

"That is a (rubber) stamp that I had made up. Canada Post is neglecting to cancel mail that goes through the system resulting in many stamps being re-used. I am doing my little bit to help as an unpaid volunteer. I have no complaints from Canada Post. I am doing their job and saving them money. Volunteers cannot be fired."

So it originated in Canada. I can attest that nearly all mail I've received from north of the border has arrived with uncancelled postage. I'm not sure there are many Americans who would be as enthusiastic in their support of the USPS!

Although, if like in the U.S., mail with tagged stamps, when dropped in a corner box, will be mechanically faced, cancelled, barcoded and sorted without ever being seen as an individual piece of mail until it reaches its destination. So there may be little chance of "getting caught". It is far easier to get something unusual through the mails today than before the era of tagging and other down-stream mechanization.

Although the reply is unclear on the specifics, I would be interesting to see a clerk's reaction if the same piece were handed over the counter for confirmation of weighing/rating and they found it to be "postmarked".