Missing Security Print
Stardate: 220312

A visit to Trafalgar Square/William IV Street office (id015010) on the 12 March 2012 threw up a variety that was reported and described on UK postage labels website about a year ago. However, I was not able to find an image of it until now. As may be seen from the image, the “ROYAL MAIL” security print does not reach all the way to the bottom of the label. The queen’s head is touching the top edge of label. These suggest that the error is due to a mis-alignment in cutting process. The affected roll was in use on kiosk 4 at this office.

Frama
Stardate: 190312

I was flicking through some of the images that I have collected over the years. In 1984, I had to visit the south of England on business and realised that I was within striking distance of Southampton and the Shirley District Office. So I found myself with a handful of change in front of a closed post office hoping that I had enough to obtain a range of values from a live machine.

The building appeared as a 1960s style unit attached to a 1930s style unit as can be seen above. The arrow shows the position of the Frama machine in situ. The three photos show the machine with two different value plaques above the choice buttons. Below that is a close up of the cash display.

Most Framas sold were probably via special packs. Initially two packs were available - a small pack with the three values shown on the cover below and a larger pack with values for a halfpence to 16p. Later  16.5p and 17p values were added.

The kiosk was in operation for about a year between 1984-5.

The kiosk at Windsor produced the only major variety - white labels when a wrong roll was put into the machine. After withdrawal of the Framas, a machine appeared at the National Postal Museum. London. It also sold white Framas but of a different design and included the word "Specimen".

Access Problems
Stardate:160312

Some of you may have noticed a warning regarding the security status of my other websites: pmechuk, pmechuk1, wincoralbum1 and wincoralbum2. These sites are all under the Google sites and it would appear that it was a system wide problem reported my many frustrated users - mostly using particular antivirus packages. Up to 10 threats were identified by these antivirals including downloaders, trojans, etc. I have checked access today and the problem has been resolved.



Wincor-Nixdorf Kiosks
Stardate:160312

One office that has been very friendly to those wanting to photograph the Wincor kiosks in the past was Blackfriars in London. The kiosk is shown below along with a close up of the screen.

Trafalgar Square/William IV Street, London, has 4 kiosks at this date but there is a promise of another two kiosks are reportedly due shortly.

Those who have visited my pmechuk site will have seen the large summary table on these kiosks which lists session numbers (with dates) and details of varieties reported at various offices. It also includes details of receipts obtained and any notes about the kiosks or location.

I would welcome reports from anyone/everyone who has access to these faststamps and PAGs of dates, session numbers, etc. Jpeg images would also be welcome as supporting evidence. e-mail address is pmechuk@gmail.com.

Photographs
Stardate: 140312

In the previous two blogs, I mentioned two outings to Wincor equipped offices in the London area and promised to upload some photos and scans of some of the material collected.

On the 9th March, I visited Sutton. The post office is in the St Nicholas centre. The office is shown below.

I purchased a few examples of the faststamps and Post and Go labels. Sutton's office id is 014013. Examples of both  are illustrated below along with the corresponding receipts.

On the way back, I visited the New Malden office (id007023).

Examples of the Faststamps and PAGs are illustrated below along with certificates of posting for two other items. These certificates are now available since the V2 upgrade. One takes the item and the certificate to the fast drop position for the certificate to be validated.

As previously noted, one item posted here was processed on one of the iLSMs (intelligent Letter Sorting Machines) at the Jubilee Mail Centre. Since the end of January 2012, they have been using ink jet printers in association with these machines. This Mail Centre has been used in the past for trials involving these machines and printers over the last year.

The 12th of March saw me visit a number of offices including the last two in London that I needed examples of. First stop was North Finchley N12 (id 014004) which has one kiosk. It is about a mile from the Woodside Park underground station.

Faststamp and PAGs illustrated

Wood Green post office is about 400 yards from the underground station of the same name. It is in a shopping arcade.

Of interest is the cancel from Mount Pleasant. Note the reversed D in the date stamp.

The High Holborn office is about 400 yards from the Holborn underground station. Office id is 004010.

 Kiosk 2 was producing blank receipts as illustrated above.

Kiosk 1 was producing receipt as normal. One thing noted over the last three to four months is that each office is using the PO oval as the standard on the receipts without exception.

Trafalgar Square/William IV Street office (id 015010) threw up a variety that was reported about a year ago  on the UK Postage Labels web site. It is illustrated below. Note the blank printing at the bottom and that the  queen's head is shifted upwards. This suggests that the labels were miscut after printing of the background by the manufacturer. The value is printed on the roll by the kiosk.

Last Two London Offices Got
Stardate: 130312

Had another day off as carer yesterday. Therefore I used it to get to the last two London area Wincor-Nixdorf equipped offices that I needed. These were at North Finchley (014004) and Wood Green (024004). Both offices were vending the sheep faststamps. The kiosk at Finchley was at session 79528 and Wood Green at session 21291. These offices went live on 5/6/09 and 17/11/10 respectively.

Since I was free I also looked in at a few other offices. Most had switched back to the Machins. The full details are on my normal website which can also be found by googling "pmechuk". I will add the images shortly.



There has been a lot in the press over the possible rise in postal rates later this year. The suggestion is that the second class rate may increase from 36p to 55p. No rate has been suggested yet for the first class rate.

I suggest that Ofcom should have rethink on the cap that they have on the Condition 9 mail. Condition 9 mail is the items collected and sorted by other companies than passed over to Royal Mail to take the last mile to the recipient. At the moment this is around the 13p an item mark. This is less than the cost of delivering it to the door.

Maybe it is time to truly level the playing field and either have these other companies pay a realistic rate or insist that they inaugurate their own universal service to match that of Royal Mail.

Baaaa!
Stardate: 100312


Another few hours off allowed a trip by 213 bus to Sutton (SM1) to visit one of the three Wincor-Nixdorf equipped post offices in the London area that I had still to get to. The others being in N12 and N22. 


This post office is in the St Nicholas Centre (id014013). Best to get off the 213 at the  stop in St Nicholas Way and cross the road to the centre. Walk down the stairs and turn to your right. You are now facing the post office. The kiosk is in the corner beyond the counter.


On the 9th March, the kiosk was at session 1017. The kiosk went live on the 23rd November 2009. The low session number suggested that the kiosk counter had been reset. This was confirmed as having happened mid February 2012 by a member of staff. The Sheep faststamps were on sale.


I also stopped off at the New Malden office (id007023) on the same bus route. Again, the Sheep faststamps were on sale. The kiosk here went live on 28.9/09. The session number was 5473 on 24/9/11 it was at sessions 15544.


I received one of the New Malden examples on an envelope today with the new Jubilee Mail Centre ink-jet cancel that is being used on the intelligent Letter Sorting Machines (iLSMs). These cancels first appeared at the beginning of February 2012.

Spring Stampex 2012 


Stardate 020312


Finally got around to mounting up all of the Wincor and Hytec material that has built up over the last few pages - some 56 pages of material -  and I have now up loaded it to the appropriate websites.

Let's get down to business with the stuff that I picked up at this show.

The Royal Mail stand had a load of leaflets advertising the new Sheep Faststamps. I picked up a few examples to add to my accumulation of material. I feel that this sort of supplementary material adds to the tale behind the item advertised and therefore should also be included. With the Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytec machines, the receipts are a must as dates do not always match up along with three different headers.

The two key pages from this leaflet are illustrated here.

Now to the faststamps. First item to note is the presentation pack. It has the kiosk ident 02 instead of the 22 or 24 used at the fair. This is the norm for Tallent's House. The data string has the session number 51840 which stands for May 1840 as a homage to the Penny Black.

The following images show the various stamps issued on the 22nd and 24th February.

See if you can spot the minor variety on the faststamps.