GB Machin Labels 2010

I received one of these the other day.I believe these new machin labels were trialled in 2009, for Special Delivery only, but since May 2010 have been in more general use. This one is for a first class Large Letter (1LG) (thicker than a letter, smaller than a packet). They are certainly an improvement on boring white labels! They have a security feature, you can just make out a wavy pattern cut around the Queen's image. I assume these make soaking impossible/difficult. I am not going to try! This one is going in my collection, but if I get any more I'll save them for any of you who are interested.

I like it.

Would this be classified in the Frama label category or similar to?

Oh dear Puzzler, I barely know anything about plain ole stamps, never mind categories of postage labels....
But I'm always willing to learn
So I'll try to find out.
(Or maybe someone wiser than me can answer..)

Should have added, the label measures 5.5cmX6cm. I like it too!

Here are MNH copies, as issued by De La Rue. Tete-Beche.
Trialled in Camden Post Office in London in 2009.






Not necessarily. Frama labels were only available from a machine while these labels are available from the Post Office Teller. If you ask nicely, you may be given a Mint copy [Or TB pair] for the right price !

Londonbus1...but what do I know !

Frama labels are listed by Gibbons whilst I hear that these labels will not be.

I just got one of those Machin labels on a mailing this week! Yes, it does look nice!

k

Thankyou all for filling in the answers whilst I have been feeding, bathing, and putting the kids to bed!
I used to work in a Post Office, circa 2002, way before I got back into stamps as a hobby. If only I'd known then what I know now.....

StampGal, feeding the young ones is a much more important task then fiddling with stamp questions. Thanks for posting the pic.

I asked the question as, really, I did not know if the Frama labels had a category myself or if this would be classed as a label or stamp or what. I know I like it though.


Thank You Londonbus. Nice pair of labels/stamps. Yummy.

I find the Frama labels kind of an extension of personalized stamps, which interest me. Haven't got any yet though.

But these, with the Queen's head on and all, not listed by Gibbons? That is surprising somewhat.

Yes, asking nicely and with a smile is always a good way. helps no matter where you are.

Interesting thread,
although sometimes I feel I am losing touch
with modern philately, change is so rapid.

Stampgal and any others interested.

"Frama" is/was a Swiss stamp label Automatic Vending Machine
used by lots of countries, the name seems to have attached to most
generic vending machines other than the swiss model.

Here is a first day cover showing the vending machine and an example label.
hope this begins to explain.

It is?

Well, another new thing I learned on SCF today!!

So, if I had gone to feed them, they would have stopped their crying? Man, I should have joined SCF a long time ago!

And I thought they were skinny because they had my genes!

It's probably more what you were feeding them!
Mint stamps are more nutritious than used.

The Michel catalogue for Frama / automat labels makes a distinction to determine whether the label gets listed or not. The Machin label shown includes a date - it's the kind of thing you get when you go to a post office and they print out a label for your parcel with the correct postage included. That label never gets in your hands, and it isn't anything you could use on another package later on even if you could take it home. On the other hand, the Frama labels listed in their catalogue are able to be used for postage at any time - you can buy one out of a machine and take it home and use it two years later if you want. In that regard, they're just like stamps.

In general, if there's a date on it, it doesn't get listed in Michel's catalogue, but that isn't always the case. The Scott U.S. Specialized catalogue also has a section for computer vended postage, and some of the labels with date of sale on them are listed. And some U.S. labels with no date aren't listed by Michel because the data matrix bar code contains personally identifiable info about the purchaser (for the label to be listed, it must be completely "anonymous", as a regular postage stamp contains no info to identify the purchaser).

If you ever see an automat label from the United Arab Emirates, you have an extreme rarity on your hands. The machine only operated for about two hours before it was unplugged and thrown in the garbage. It wouldn't accept coins and it accepted bills for double the amount it was supposed to. Oh well. Only 143 labels were printed.

Ryan

Thanks Ryan, very informative.

Goodness me,
one is never short of information on this forum.
10/10 for that post.

I gave this one away earlier today.



They are certainly striking labels.

GB Frama's from 1984...the only issue.