Show Any New "USPS" Spray Cancellations You Find

Here is a new USPS spray-on cancel used in my area of the USA, Des Moines, Iowa, that I received in the mail recently showing a new-style postal vehicle. The details are pretty good considering the speeds of the machine this letter ran on. The wording says: "USPS Vehicle Awareness."

The spray technology has come a long way since the days I worked on check sorters for Unisys.

Linus

That's a pretty nice cancel, Linus, and certainly the first time I've seen it.
The four wave shaped killers trailing the outline of the vehicle suggest it's speeding down the highway or perhaps through the air like a space shuttle.

I had a March 14 dated example of this marking from Cleveland in my mail today.

Linus,
The sprays I have seen all have an additional line of text above the truck. Did yours miss the envelope or is it an artefact of trimming or digital cropping?
Here are some others:
Indianapolis, 5L

Indianapolis, 7L

Northern Virginia, 4L

Milwaukee, 4L


I would encourage everyone to save these as entire covers and not cut them down, which greatly reduces their value/collectibility as postal history.

John -

That is very interesting! Des Moines is not using the additional line of text as you show on your example. My example in the OP from machine 3L is the same as a full cover I saved from machine 2L shown below. Did both miss the top part of the spray cancel, or was it programmed without that extra text?

Would anybody else like to share examples of this spray cancel from your area?

Linus

This Des Moines cover includes a partial upper line of text.

USPS Des Moines has hardware problems. Thanks for the examples Bluejay2.

Cincinnati, 6L

This Waterloo, Iowa cancelation utilizes a smaller and less detailed depiction of the postal vehicle.

Many of us collectors continue to remain clueless about basic material handling of letter mail in the mechanized mailstream. IF you would note and compare distance of the postmark city line to the top edge in 'correct' cancels vs 'truncated' ones, you'd have the answer. In detail:

These remarks reflect traits starting with the first Pitney-Bowes Mark II facer-cancelers put in production (field tests starting in 1959): After collected mail (e.g., from collection boxes) is dumped in, culled, and letter shaped pieces are staggered out to ride in the conveyor system in single file, the "facing" tasks occur, so successful letters are now Upside Down (so top edge of envelope is at bottom), and leading edge is the short side that has postage (affixed or printed indicia like meter) in corner. Next comes key point:
When envelope whips through cancel printer (whether old-school metal die or inkjet), and its "down" edge is in full contact with conveyer "belt", cancel will be positioned horizontally as designed and printed at maximum distance BELOW top of envelope. IF letter happens to "ride" a mm above belt, cancel will read a mm closer to top of envelope if letter "rises" a mere 2mm above belt, cancel will read 2mm closer to top of envelope, and so on (up to whatever governor "overhang" might be present to keep letter from flying out upward, if any... can't remember... there's video on youtube just search facer canceler, one from US Nat'l Archives is from 1968).
I can't speak to the inkjet printer install and positioning of the 'inkjet printing head,' but if technically possible to be out-of-spec for something practically 'bolted in', I suppose it's possible for one to be a mm or so closer to the conveyor belt ??!! That would increase the chances for those envelopes flying through without contacting the conveyer belt to miss a top portion of cancel.