September slogan postmarks

This is the place for all new slogans for September, and any other interesting postal markings that I find or which are reported.  August was a totally blank month as far as I am aware - does anybody remember having another such month in the recent past?

Already we have had two new slogans, and two of the illustrations have added twists!

Pride Month revisited. For some reason Preston's Lancashire and South Lakes Mail Centre started off the month going back in time to June when Pride Month 2021 was celebrated. This is one twist, and the example from DP showing its use on 02/09/2021 had the added twist of using a forged 1st class Large Signed For stamp. (Apparently this was not scanned at the PO - so probably dropped in a box - but scanned on delivery.)  Note this doesn't have the 'Delivered by Royal Mail' segment.

June 2021 Pride Month slogan reused 02/09/2021 at Preston Mail Centre (Lancashire and South Lakes).

I believe the last line of the postmark indicates machine 131, whereas this one, also from DP later the same day is from machine 151.  This is the correct 'supporting child mental health with Action for Children' default.  This Christmas stamp is a forgery.

Default 'Action for Children' slogan used 02/09/2021 at Preston Mail Centre (Lancashire and South Lakes).

Update 9 September:  My thanks to John Enfield for reminding me yet again about the numbering system on these machines, now corrected above.  "The first 3 digits of the bottom line of Integrated Mail Processor cancellations show the machine number. IMPs are numbered in a national series, and Preston has 131, 144 and 151. (The next 2 digits denote the half-hour period of the day in which the item was processed, and the last 5 are a unique item identifier). 

"Intelligent Letter Sorting Machines (iLSMs) are numbered locally, and thus the 'Dorset & S W Hants' slogan [below] came from Poole's iLSM 2.  (Again the next 2 digits denote the half-hour period, and the last 5 are a unique identifier)."

---

Another new slogan was announced by Royal Mail on social media (specifically Twitter) but they didn't indicate how long it would be in use for.  This one marks the success of TeamGB and Paralympics GB at the Tokyo 2020 event.  [They won't be painting any postboxes, just as they didn't for Rio 2016.]

This reads

Congratulations
to all our
Team GB and
ParalympicsGB
athletes
Tokyo 2020

From DP again at Preston's Lancashire and South Lakes Mail Centre and from MM who provides one from Southampton Portsmouth & IOW both 06/09/2021.  DP's Christmas stamp is also a forgery.

Congratulations Tokyo 2020 slogan used 06/09/2021 at Preston Mail Centre (Lancashire and South Lakes).

Congratulations Tokyo 2020 slogan used 06/09/2021 at Southampton Mail Centre.

[Update] Royal Mail's publicity for this showed the wrong format for the Southampton Mail Centre (and missing the time):

Update 8 September: Thanks to KD we now know that the slogan is in use for longer than just one day, as he has sent this other layout from Dorset & S.W. Hants mail centre on 07-09-2021.

Congratulations Tokyo 2020 slogan used 07/09/2021 at Dorset & S.W. Hants Mail Centre.

UPDATE 16 September - we now know that the Olympics slogan was in use until 10 September, when the system reverted to the default, as shown here from North West Midlands Mail Centre on 11 September.

'Action for Children' slogan used 1109/2021 at North West Midlands Mail Centre

---

Nothing more was expected, save perhaps for something promoting the DC-Comics stamps, but then events in New York brought a rethink, as Emma Raducanu won the Women's US Open Tennis title.  The last time there was a British winner of a major a sheet of stamps was issued:

Miniature sheet of 4 stamps issued to mark Andy Murray winning the Wimbledon Men's title, 2013.

 

No news yet from Royal Mail about a similar commemoration for Britain's new champion (would it make as much money as popular American comics?) but at least they rushed out a special slogan postmark which ran from 13-16 September.

Congratulations
Emma Raducanu
2021 US Open
Women's Chamption
A First class performance!

Some people posted comments to the blog, which I declined as, at the same time, others were sending the actual images, so thanks to the large number of people who wrote about this including PW, MB, KD, MM, JG, CH, JE, JN, JW & RW who remarked that Exeter seem to have found the ink drum again:

Emma Raducanu slogan postmark Exeter Mail Centre 14-09-2021

Emma Raducanu slogan postmark Lancashire and South Lakes (Preston Mail Centre) 13/09/2021

Emma Raducanu slogan postmark Plymouth and Cornwall Mail Centre 15-09-2021

---

UPDATE 20 September.  I received a poor copy of a new slogan today, which followed straight on from the Tennis one.  This was used at Greenford/Windsor Mail Centre on 17/09/2021 and has a comet logo and the following text.

   Alzheimer's
Research 
UK            
Learn about dementia
and support our work at
alzres.uk/learn

Good copies to come, hopefully - over to you!  My thanks to JH for this less than perfect but much better example from Manchester Mail Centre 18/09/2021

Alzheimer's Research slogan Manchester mail centre 18/09/2021

Thanks also to JE & MM for more Manchester Examples and one from Glasgow - the latter on an uncancelled stamp torn from another envelope and taped onto a new one! So much for revenue protection.
 

Alzheimer's Research slogan Glasgow mail centre 18-09-2021

(The surfeit of Manchester examples is because they handle Preston mail on Saturdays)

If you received one of these postmarks, log it on 'Catch the Comet'

---

UPDATE 21 September. Well, Alzheimer's Research UK didn't get long, and Royal Mail have now switched their allegiance to the Greetings Card Association and Thinking of You Week.  A letter arrived here at Norvic towers moments ago from Cornwall Mail Centre posted 20/09/2021.  

Send A Card
Deliver A Smile for
Thinking of You Week
20th-26th September 2021

Thinking of You Week slogan, Cornwall Mail Centre 20/09/2021

This one from Dublin is simpler (from KD), and doesn't reveal the 'special' week behind it.

Dublin Ireland Mails Centre 'Send Love; slogan 10.09.21

Update 23 September: Thanks to RW for the alternative layout of the Royal Mail slogan from Medway Mail Centre 20-09-2021

Thinking of You Week slogan, Medway Mail Centre 20/09/2021

Update 4 October. Thanks to RW who sent this similar one from the USPS, where 'spray-on' cancels are getting better!

USPS 'Thinking of You' station postmark 29 September 2021.

---

UPDATE 28 September: The latest government initiative for tackling climate change involves encouraging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to sign up to the SME Climate Hub. 

TOGETHER        SME
FOR OUR            Climate
PLANET              HUB
Start your Net Zero business journey
businessclimatehub.org/uk

Used from 25/09/2021 (Gatwick seen); this example from Chester & N Wales 27/09/2021

Together for our Planet SME Climate Hub - Chester & N.Wales 27/09/2021

 

---

UPDATE 2 October:  The last September slogan carries on into October as it is for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Once again RW was the first to send an image (below).  This example is from Nottingham dated 30/09/2021.

Breast Cancer

Awareness

Month

1-31 October

         Change

        + CHECK

Breast Cancer Awareness Month postmark slogan, Nottingham, 30/09/2021

 

---

Convenient Delivery - Parcelforce

Here's one I found while going through my cupboard.  I don't think I've seen one before or since!  We don't get much from Parcelforce these days with the competition (Amazon, UPS, DHL, etc) so evident. 

This came on a parcel from Stanley Gibbons in 2015, which was delivered to the village post office for collection - possibly because SG used my PO Box (which Parcelforce can't access) instead of the street address.  Note it is Post Office Parcelforce and reference to scanning it in and our on Horizon, so this must have been only for deliveries to branches.  The label number PW991/08 suggests that this was printed in 2008.

Post Office Parcelforce 'Convenient Delivery label PW991/08 used 2015.

---

Frequently asked questions on British postmarks and postal markings

There are some aspects of British 20th century postmarks and postal markings which puzzle collectors in modern times, although when they occurred the purpose or reason was widely known.

These questions are often asked on philatelic forums but not everybody is happy to venture into forums for the first time so if you have a postal marking that puzzles you, please email me, with a picture, and I'll try to answer it here.  These will not be in-depth studies and I may gloss over some aspects, but I'm sure knowledgeable readers will put me right on any errors.


Red postmarks
In the 19th century before postal reform it was common for letters to be sent unpaid, with the recipient being responsible for paying the letter carrier.  Most postal marks were applied in black, although other colours (blue, blue-green, blue-black, yellow) are known but the passage of time has changed some of these colours.  (See also British Postal History pages of E & R Shanahan's website - and explore the rest of it for some fascinating articles!)

If a letter was prepaid, it was marked in red.  With the Uniform Fourpenny Post this could be manuscript '4 pd', or just a red 4.   The same applied with the Penny Post.  When the Penny Black stamp was issued the Maltese Cross postmark was applied in red indicating a paid letter.  But as we know the stamp was soon reissued in red-brown and black postmarks were used.  (For much more detail on postmarks of the British Isles from 1840-76 see the GBPS website.)
 
Through the 20th century black ink was used to cancel stamps, but for bulk postings when postage was paid for on account or in cash, the letters (etc) received a PAID handstamp or machine mark and this was in red (though there are some exceptions where the PAID handstamp was used to cancel a stamp which had missed regular postmarking.  This was replicated with franking machines (or meters) which were also applied in red until recently.

As with anything there are exceptions.  When Royal Mail marked the 150th anniversary of the 1d black stamp in 1990 with the double-headed 'Victoria/Machin' set, the ink colour was changed to red so that it could be seen on the 1st class and 20p stamps.  Which answers one question sent this week.

What time is it?
Why does the postmark on the 1st class stamp show the time (3.30PM) while that on the 2nd class (15p) stamp does not?

The answer to this lies in the posting/delivery promise, that a high percentage of 1st class post would be delivered the next day.   The time it was postmarked reflect the time it was collected from the postbox or post office.  Although most letters posted late in the day with, say, a 7.30PM postmark would be delivered next day it might the by the second delivery, or on the third day if in a remote location, the delay being explained by the time of posting/processing.

There was less urgency with 2nd class post and so the time was not shown.  The reason for this is so that 2nd class mail could be processed over a long period some time after posting.  It may be sorted in the early hours of day 2, in which case it would logically receive (say) a  4.00 AM postmark but for the day following posting.  This would cause confusion with recipients when the sender was pressed for which day the letter was posted, hence it received a postmark with the date of posting but no time.


Why are there blue dots on my stamp?

These pale blue or white opaque phosphorised dots are part of the address coding to enable mechanised sorting of the mail.  Previously they were transparent or white (and waxy), and later they were replaced with red or red-orange bar-codes as shown below.  They are not uncommon, although most collectors prefer used stamps with postmarks and without these mechanised sorting marks.

That's all for now - any supplementary questions will be answered here, but new questions will be on a separate post.

---

Letter sorting machines to be removed at High Wycombe Royal Mail office

The Bucks Free Press reports that some letter processing machines are to be removed from High Wycombe Royal Mail office.

ONE of High Wycombe’s delivery offices is to remove two letter sorting machines - as the number of letters sent has dropped by 50 per cent since 2004.

Royal Mail’s High Wycombe South office in Lancaster Road, Cressex, will see the removal of the two sorting machines because they need to make more room for managing parcels.

Letter sorting machines were designed to help Royal Mail sort letters in some delivery offices - but letter volumes have declined by 50 per cent since 2004 as people post fewer letters and receive more parcels.  Royal Mail expect letter volumes to fall by about 26 per cent over the next five years or so.

The initiative will reportedly have no impact on the quality of service for customers sending and receiving letters in the area, according to Shane O’Riordain, Royal Mail managing director of regulation and corporate affairs.

If you have any reports on changes to postmarking or on distribution arrangements we will record them here for the benefit of readers.

---

Mechanised Mail Sorting in the 1990s, and meter marks.

Now that we have stopped stocking the Machin definitives for years after M18L, there is time to delve into our boxes and rediscover things which were put aside for investigation, or to form part of a collection or club display. 

But there aren't enough hours in the day, or indeed years left, to do justice to all the side-line unsorted collections so I'll be mentioning some here in case anybody is interested.  If you are, just sent an email to ian [at] norphil.co.uk and I'll give you more details.  Many of these will be at bargain prices, some just for the cost of postage.  The alternative is to put them into a club auction or go through the tortuous process of eBay listing - or just send them to recycling!

This first lot is a bundle of mostly office mail envelopes mainly from the late 1990s, all with more or less readable mechanised mail idents to Norwich, with a few older, and a couple to Sheffield or elsewhere. Most are blue dots in various shades, some are clear. Being commercial correspondence there are hardly any stamps, it is either meter-franked or has Postage Paid Impressons.  A few sample pictures - click on each to get a bigger view.

 

 

This lot weighs about 350gr for over 65 covers.   Postage will be at cost; if you are interested, please get in touch.

---

Mystery Postmark and special offer.

A reader recently sent a scan of this postmark and asked if I knew what it is.

The text isn't too clear (click on the image to see it larger) but consists of the date 29-06-2018, the machine number ILSM: 2, and the time, 16:02:37Z.   I don't know what the 'Z' means in this case*.

The short answer is that it is a postmark applied by an Intelligent Letter Sorting Machine (iLSM) in test mode, which should not be applied to live mail, in this case a PPI mailpiece originating with UK Mail.

Update.  SP writes: "The Z in this context is probably “Zulu” time which is GMT."
I recall this from military usage.

Coincidentally shortly before this I had been offered some Royal Mail Engineering Test Cards, as shown below.  These are used internally in Royal Mail to verify that their machines are working properly prior to operational use. The destination is a test destination.  They can be used on iLSMs and IMPs (Integrated Mail Processors), with instructions on the reverse for how they are to be used.

 

 

 

UPDATE: Still a few of these left if anybody would like one.

---

Is Norwich Sorting Office heading for 21st Century? YES!

Something's afoot at Norwich's Royal Mail sorting office, but we don't know what it is!

Mail originating in much of central and eastern Norfolk is usually postmarked in Norwich, using an old Universal machine which has seen better days and rarely seems to have enough ink to make a good impression.

If this was from Norwich (it's from Mount Pleasant) we would think it better than normal!

But this week our mail is receiving the new Peterborough ink-jet postmark:

This suggests that Norwich's old machine may be retiring at last, and that we will soon have an ink-jet machine.  It may be that our customers will know before we do!  Do let us know!

UPDATE: Our customer Stuart confirms that Norwich now has an ink-jet postmark.  I wish I'd used lighter-coloured stamps!

Royal Mail

Norwich

Mail Centre

11-07-2012

---

Colored shapes on GB Machin stamps

Collectors are often puzzled by odd markings on Great Britain stamps, and the question is quite often asked by email or on philatelic forums.   Sometimes it is postmarks, other times odd marks such as these:






These pale blue or white opaque phosphorised dots are part of the address coding to enable mechanised sorting of the mail. Previously they were transparent, and later they were replaced with red or red-orange bar-codes.

This has been discussed on the Stampboards forum - come along and join in the debate and show your examples on stamps or covers!

---

New typeface for Horizon labels - white and gold

I've never really understood the terminology attached to the new Post Office Counters computer system.  The old system, in use for about 8 years nationwide, is called 'Horizon' - hence Horizon Labels.

The new system is called 'Horizon Online' - but given that the old system enabled realtime financial transactions, cash withdrawals etc, that must have been online in a sense.  I'll await clarification!  What I do know is that the system menus are different, and notices appeared in our crown office asking for patience while they acquainted themselves with the new system.

A by-product is a further change in the type face used on Horizon labels.  The most recent version is shown below left, and the new version alongside.

Unchangeable software affected the old style, meaning that the Service Indicator text started in the centre of the printed area, rather than being centered, and often extended beyond the ruled lines.

This has been rectified in the new version, although the Royal Mail text is still left-justified.  The postcode and session numbers appear now to be right-justified giving the printing an overall neater look.

Offices which are not yet using gold Machin labels but which have the new software will produce the new type on white labels.  I would be interested in images - or even examples - of any of these, especially Welsh.   I'd also like to show Welsh gold 'online' labels. 

---

United Kingdom Postcodes are 50 years old 2 - the postmarks used - Pass On Your Postcode

Royal Mail's Postmark Bulletin announced that letter cancelling machinery would have a commemorative postmark for a few days.

INK-JET SLOGAN POSTMARKS
An ink-jet slogan marking the 50th anniversary of the introduction of postcodes at Norwich on 8 October 1959 will be used 6-12 October at mail centres applying ink-jet postmarks. A bilingual version is intended for use at mail centres processing mail posted in Wales.

In addition, metal slogan dies are expected to be used at Norwich Mail Centre, 5-18 October. Eight dies are being sent to Norwich
a - Code It Keep It/Prevent Crime;
b - Get The Most From Your Post/Code It;
c - Help Us Push Postcodes;
d - Pass On Your Postcode;
e - Prevent Crime/Postcode Valuables;
f - Remember to Use The Postcode;
g - Be Properly Addressed/Postcode it; and
h - Sealed & Postcoded Correctly Addressed/Mechanisation/Will Do The Rest.

Six of these eight dies are expected to be used in the three CFCs (Culler Facer Cancellers) dependent on operational requirements.

This announcement is for information only. Collectors are reminded that Royal Mail no longer offers a reposting service for slogan postmarks.

Update
The slogan dies were supplied to Norwich from the British Postal Museum and Archive - it may well be that some of them were never actually used at Norwich in their first use. The Postmark Bulletin indicated that 8 dies were to be sent to Norwich which has three CFCs, each with two cancellers, so we wondered which would be used. Fortunately I've been supplied with incoming local mail from a local business and can report. Even more fortunately Norwich sorting office seems to have found some more ink - usually the postmarks are too indistinct even to read the date or placename!

CFC die 1- Get The Most From Your Post/Code It


CFC die 1 - Pass On Your Postcode


CFC die 2 - Get The Most From Your Post/Code It


CFC die 2 - Pass On Your Postcode


CFC die 3 - Code It Keep It/Prevent Crime


CFC die 4 - Sealed & Postcoded Correctly Addressed Mechanisation Will Do The Rest


CFC die 5 - Prevent Crime Postcode Valuables (all examples seen are shifted to the right)


CFC die 6 - Help Us Push Postcodes


Another die was used in the older machine - Remember to Use The Postcode



Example of IMP (ink-jet) slogan used at Worcester


Example of bilingual IMP slogan used at Shrewsbury


Example of ordinary slogan used at Shrewsbury*

* Almost all mail posted in the Shrewsbury area receives two machine postmarks, one the old style and one the IMP (ink-jet). Getting these is quite unusual!

Finally a copy of a much earlier slogan. Thanks to Stafford, Simon, Barry & Richard for information or examples of postmarks.