December starts (as November ended) with the default British Heart Foundation slogan. Again, JH has provided an example, but again it is difficult to read.
 |
| Default British Heart Foundation slogan Jubilee Mail Centre 3 December 2025 |
Unlike last month - when we had only one example of the Remembrance slogan - while I have been away a flood of examples has reached me from readers - thank you all! This is for the state visit of the German President. This occurs in 3-line versions: JM sent the best one from Manchester (with others in the same format from LT, AA & RW are less than ideal which is a shame for a very short-term slogan). The Nowich one in the other 2-line format from JH is the best we've seen so far. But we have had one from Sheffield here, which is quite poor, but in the reversed format on a square envelope!
Welcome
President
Steinmeier
State Visit 2025
 |
| Welcome President Steinmeier State Visit slogan Manchester Mail Centre 03/12/2025 |
 |
| Welcome President Steinmeier State Visit slogan Norwich Mail Centre 03-12-2025 |
UPDATE 9 December. Surprisingly yet another variation; this one has four lines from Jubilee Mail Centre 05-12-2025, thanks TP.
 |
| Welcome President Steinmeier State Visit slogan Jubilee Mail Centre 05-12-2025 |
 |
| Welcome President Steinmeier State Visit reversed slogan Sheffield Mail Centre 03?-12-2025 |
UPDATE 12 December. Before we get to the Christmas reminders slogans greetings cards have brought forth a rash of examples of the default British Heart Foundation slogan, with thee variants so far. Even I have some!
Firstly thanks to RW for this one from Tyneside on 09/12/2025 which arrived as I was scanning mine from Gatwick. But I also have one in the other format from Norwich 08-12-2025.
 |
| British Heart Foundation slogan, Tyneside Mail Centre 09/12/2025 |
 |
| British Heart Foundation slogan, Norwich Mail Centre 08-12-2025 |
And MM sent us the first reversed one on a square envelope, also from Tyneside on 08/12/2025
 |
| Reversed British Heart Foundation slogan, Tyneside Mail Centre 08/12/2025 |
We will expect some form of Christmas posting slogan from Royal Mail very soon, probably replaced later by a 'Last Posting Dates' slogan. As we understand that there are no Universal machines now in use, it will be interesting to see what appears other than from the regular ink-jet machines.
UPDATE: We understand that there will be no 'post early' slogans this year; as we are only a week away from Christmas, that is not much of a surprise. What will be a surprise is if Royal Mail start using stamp-issue related slogans next year.
Other postmarks and postal markings, etc
Recipients of my sendings last week may have been able to determine that they were posted in Street, Somerset. The light was in the wrong place get a good photo, so here is one from Google StreetView when it was still a branch of WHSmith. Now it is a One Stop, but at the same address in the HIgh Street postcode BA16 0EZ.
 |
| Street, Somerset, branch post office from Google streetview March 2024. |
I was able to get my post cancelled at the counter with the self-inking counter datestamp GG shown on the left below. Also shown is one I obtained in 2017, unit E. Note that this one, with quite different spacing, has an unexpected error, with two M's in Sommerset!
Galmpton in Devon was mentioned here in 2023 when a self-inking datestamp was in use. The latest missive from there (thank you RW) is a new-type single-circle which looks like rubber - it turns out that this is a private production, similar to the Mailer's Permits used in the USA, and not a new counter datestamp.
Blackheath Village, Kent. The branch is in an impressive building and was taken over by WHSmith in 2016, much to the surprise of the local historical society. As you can see from these Google streetview pictures the original post office (built in 1911) had wooden doors below an impressive stone identity. Whilst the latter has been retained, the new owners ripped out the wooden doors and replaced them with glass and steel. Obviously this building did not have nationally listed status although it is on Lewisham’s register of locally-listed buildings and is recognised by the Council as a building of character in the Blackheath Conservation Area.
Thanks to SH for the example of the self-inking datestamp which led to this story.
 |
| Blackheath Village self-inking counter datestamp 5 December 2025. |
Enquiry Office handstamps - JW has sent this example from Edinburgh North West DO dated today 13 DEC 2025. (digitally enhanced)
 |
| Edinburgh North West DO / 13 DEC 2025 / Royal Mail handstamp |
 |
| Certificate of posting for online postage, Edinburgh NW DO |
Although this means not using stamps, such material is important to obtain and record, so sometimes we have to resort to unconventional practices - a bit like sending stamps to yourself by special delivery to get them fine used.
US Tariffs - did Royal Mail deliberately route some mail through Europe?
JW reports a discussion on Reddit about an International Tracked parcel from the UK to USA. It appeared to be stuck in limbo in the USA, but was returned a month after sending with a CN15 Return label from Hungary! And this wasn't just a one-off. This was the label shown by user Leading-Pie1366 at the beginning of December.
.png)
Another user reported that they too had this problem: "after clearing customs at usps.com it was showing that it was scanned at 'BUDAPEST 1005, United States of America'." This person obtained a refund for their postage label from Royal Mail.
Google AI suggests that because of backlogs Royal Mail was shipping via Hungary, but that doesn't quite match up with the tracking routing described on Reddit.
Remember, slogan postmarks appearing in December will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.
Thanks for the item on Blackheath (which of course is now London SE3 rather than Kent, but historically it was Kent). The Post Office wooden doors have been the subject of huge local disputes as they were apparently "lost" by whoever developed the Post Office into a WHSmith and the Blackheath Society has been trying to track them down for years. The new doors are horrible to make matters worse. The staff in the Post Office are very nice, but the place doesn't have the feel of the old lovely wooden "Crown office" it used to be and now the letter boxes have been boarded up badly at the front with two "newish" E2R post boxes put a little distance away from the main building. All a bit of a shame really. If anyone knows where the original doors are please get in touch!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting on the Galmpton handstamp, it's interesting that they are already making a new design. I don't really bother with requesting handstamps at my PO, the clerk tends to get a bit impatient.
ReplyDeleteNot very festive are RM these days? Quite a few letters/cards have arrived from the US with the Happy Holidays with tree postmark slogan on!
ReplyDeleteI have been noticing the way that these days many of the postal markings now no longer include the time of franking as well as the date.
ReplyDeleteSometimes there seems to be a line for the date and a separate line for the time.
I'm wondering if there is a reason why some of the franking machines have a time printed on them and others fail to do so, only having a line for the date.