Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary Dunaier
Your local post office is misinformed. Handback cancellation service is authorized in the Postal Operations Manual. Here's the relevant information:
231.4 Hand-Back and Mail-Back Service
Postmarks rather than other obliterations should be used to provide the following services whenever they are available:
a. Hand-Back Service
(1) When a customer personally presents an addressed or unaddressed envelope, postal card, or other item described in 231.63 to a postal clerk for cancellation with the current day's postmark, the post office must postmark the item and return it, or hand it back, to the customer.
(2) The envelope, card, or other item does not enter the mailstream. All such materials must bear uncanceled postage at the applicable First-Class rate.
Unfortunately, in my experience many window clerks are unaware of the rule, and there have been instances where skeptical clerks, and even supervisors, refused to co-operate even when presented with documentation. There was one time when I showed a supervisor a letter from USPS headquarters in Washington, DC saying that what I wanted to do was okay, and her response was that "it doesn't matter what Washington says." (I reported this to USPS HQ, with a copy to the local postmaster, and commented that if she was freely willing to say this to a member of the public, I could only wonder what she was telling her subordinates.) |
Good to know. The last time I tried it was a long time ago. I think 9/9/99 ? I wanted to make maybe 10 covers for the odd date. The clerk said "we can't do that" So I just mailed them to myself with pencil addresses. Interesting experience, one came the next day, six came 3 days later, and the other three came one at a time over the following 5-7 days. I still have them somewhere, as the cancels and bar codes weren't consistent and a couple were damaged - my bad as I didn't include stiffeners not expecting them to be mailed.
The people at the branch I go to now know I usually check the manual to make sure what I'm doing is ok. Like mailing 16mm film media mail. It's pretty non-standard these days, and they didn't know since they hadn't seen it in years.
I have a particular bit of mail I want for my collection, and haven't found a contact to see about getting it. Apparently if you're an antivenin lab mailing to another lab it's ok to mail live scorpions as long as they're labeled properly. Somewhere there's a lab I can beg a used box from.....