Newsletter

At the beginning of January 2013, I produced the first edition of a newsletter covering the postal ATMs in the UK. The second issue will be ready soon for distribution. Copies may be obtained by e-mailing me at pmechuk@gmail.com. The February issue will give the story of the first home made faststamps along with defining the terms in use covering this filed of study in the UK. Pulled stamps, office idents, fonts and news of issues. Hopefully, the March issue will include information on Spring Stampex 2013 and the first of three freshwater life issues.

I would welcome contributions of material fro this publication whether it is just session number data from one office to a multi-page article. 

Pulled Faststamps

The Norphil blog entry for 8 January makes it clear that it is unfortunate that a few people trying to make a few pounds because they have found a weakness in a system. I questioned the legitimacy of the extended strips that appeared at Autumn Stampex 2012 and rightly so. At the previous Autumn Stampex, a  flaw in the Hytech kiosks allowed a few people pull on the strip of stamps to generate blank and partially printed stamps. This problem was fixed by Spring Stampex 2012 with the addition of a cover making it impossible to reach the strip.

I must point out that a letter to Stamp Magazine at the time of Spring Stampex warned of this mis-use of the machine and rightly so as these "errors" were made available on ebay the same day as they were produced at a heavy premium.

With the new design of Hytech kiosk that appeared at Autumn Stampex 2012, it looked as though the problem could recur and, I mentioned it to others while waiting in the queue to purchase examples form the kiosk on the first day of the show in the presence of the engineer. When this error subsequently appeared, and again quickly appeared on ebay led one to suspect a repeat. 

I subsequently asked for information supporting the genuineness of these new errors via the Stamp Magazine forum, Norphil and other sources. This prompted a reply that these were genuine and that a video had been made of the strips being produced. This video is now on You-tube and it clearly illustrates that these particular examples are genuine errors.

I agree with Ian at Norphil that it is ridiculous that some one such as myself has to question the authenticity of some stamps. I apologise if this has upset anyone but surely it is better for this new area of UK collecting that we question the irregularities and stop any abuse before it turns people away from this field of interest.

Once more, I stress that I am not a dealer. I am a stamp collector who has collected since I was 5 (in 1961).  I do not have the temperament to be a dealer. My background is science and I have published a number of papers in learned journals. When I see a wrong result, I check it and re-check it to see what the problem was. That was my training and profession.

Therefore if I see something out of place with the Hytechs and Wincors  or indeed any other field should I keep quiet and let it go or ask for clarification? I want to hear from other collectors in this area. I want data on usage, dates of use, session numbers, what stamps were used where, faults, receipt varieties, etc. My email address is pmechuk@gmail.com.

Newsletter

There is so much information on UK ATMs on the net, in the press and available with each visit to a post office equipped with these kiosks. In the last year, I have set up about half a dozen websites listing the raw data that I have obtained along with scans of material in my personal collection. Then there is this blog.

From monitoring the hits on the Stamp Magazine forum, it is clear that there are a lot of people interested in this area of collection. Therefore, I have put together a first issue of a newsletter which can be downloaded from my pmechuk website or by e-mailing me at pmechuk@gmail.com. As I have often stated, I am not a dealer and I feel that the approach to dealing that some have taken on sites such as ebay may be misleading the unwary collector with regard to some of the terms used in advertising material (such as "SCARCE"). Therefore, the Newsletter is primarily for collectors to enable them to make informed choices. 

I would like to produce at least a few pages on a regular basis and would welcome input from others. The first issue covers from Autumn Stampex to the BPMA issue but I would welcome input not only on British Wincors and Hytechs but from around the world. 

As I have no financial support for this activity, all issues will be produced electronically and emailed to those interested. This means that there is no membership costs, no hassle with record keeping and accounts, no printing costs for me and no worry about finding postage costs.

 It is up to you whether this is a worthwhile activity.

The newsletter may be found at:
                     
                         https://sites.google.com/site/pmechuk/newsletter

The file is at the bottom of that page.

Stampex Data and Possible Newsletter

Kiosk B1 Information Wanted

I have been asked for information on the use of Kiosk B1 at Autumn Stampex. It was noticed that the date-line (1952-2012) is slightly indented from the line above (Diamond Jubilee) on the Cattle stamps erroneously overprinted for the Diamond Jubilee (it is clearly visible in the image on the pmechuk website). Can anyone supply jpeg images of items from this “backroom” kiosk (and time of purchase) as it is of interest as to when the indented date-line first occurred, by looking for the first overprinted Flag stamps from B1 with the same indent. So far, the indent is present on Flag stamps from session 334 at 12.48, session 390 at 15.06, session 446 at 17.50 all on 28 September; the latter session is very close to session 452 which produced the Cattle overprint. So it would be expected that the indent may have occurred on stamps from session 361 at 13.50 that you report in your table on the website.

Any additional information would be gratefully welcomed. Apart from knowing when the indent variant first occurred, it would also be interesting to know if it continued on stamps issued on Saturday 29 September, but so far no examples have been illustrated on the internet. 

E-mail me at pmechuk@gmail.com.

Possible Newsletter

I have been considering the suggestion about producing a regular newsletter on the UK ATMs which would be distributed electronically. There is some merit in the idea if others would be willing to contribute to its content. As a one man effort, my fear would be that it would fade away after a few issues but that would depend on you. E-mail address above.

Hytech Kiosks A1, A3 and A4

From 16 November 2012 to 24 December 2012, two new Hytech kiosks will be available for use at a "Pop Up" Post Office at Unit 17A, Stables Market Camden, Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8AH. The kiosks involved are coded A3 and A4.  

From data on the net and a visit today (3/12/12), the impression that I am getting is that it is mainly dealers and collectors of this material that are serching out this venue. Apparently, Saturday (1/12/12) was a busy day because the ident changed from ANGB12 to ADGB12. 

The desk cancels have as the location "Equipment Team Temporary" and have the codes 32 and 42. I asked if they were associated with the Head Office Model Office who tend to oversee these sort of trials of new machinery but was told that they weren't. They were just volunteers to man the office.

The British Postal Museum and Archive (BPMA) have received Hytech kiosk A1 and the first day of use was Monday 3/12/12. The unit is vending Machins and Robins with the overprint "The B.P.M.A.". This kiosk was used at Autumn Stampex 2012 and Perth 2012. The session numbers continue on from Perth2012. My examples were obtained at 14:19 on 3/12/12 and were from session 746.

After Christmas, the Robin stamp is to be replaced by the flag issue.

There were some teething problems with the kiosk at the BPMA on the first day requiring regular intervention by staff. 

Post and Go - Hytech Releases 

Recent weeks has seen some new developments regarding the Hytech kiosks. In October we saw the release of Perth 2012 Machins and Flags. The BPMA is to receive a kiosk on the 3 December and now we learn that a Pop Up Post Office has appeared at Camden Market with two new Hytechs - A3 and A4.

The worrying thing is the lack of information being released as to these new developments that could result in a few people who happen to be in the right place at the wrong time making a killing on ebay by overcharging collectors.

Autumn Stampex 2012 saw session numbers from circa 10 to around 500 on the faststamps produced at that show. Perth 2012 saw the highest session number around the 700-750 mark. This shows that the demand is there for these products, yet the collector has to rely on dealers or being there to get examples. This sort of material should be available through the Philatelic Bureau.

Already, there are suggestions that Royal Mail is seeing the Wincors and the Hytech "specials" as cashcows and that some collectors are threatening to stop purchasing the "specials".

Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech Cattle

I was fortunate to re-visit the Autumn Stampex event on the 28th September for the release of the Cattle faststamps. I wanted examples from both the Wincor-Nixdorf and the Hytech on the first day.

I stopped off at William IV Street/Trafalgar Square to obtain examples of the "normal" Wincor stamps. Kiosks 1 and 2 were vending sheep and kiosks 3 and 4 were producing the cattle stamps. I purchased single examples of the faststamps from kiosks 1 to 3 and two sets of six first class stamps from kiosk 4 to fill FDC requirements.

The Wincors produced were as expected - font 1 and with the normal ident (015010). The datastring is as normal - 015010 4-06244-01. The receipt had one minor variation - the address was all on one line and in lower case lettering. Of note is the session number, 06244, which is low. This would suggest a resetting around the 17th July. This is about the same time as the 000000 fault on kiosk 1 which was also reset about that time.

The Hytech produced a new form of datastring which includes letters - A9GB12 A1-000259-06. The "A" in A1 indicates a kiosk which may be used by the public, "B" is a backroom kiosk and "C" is for Philatelic Bureau produced items. The basic receipts for the Hytech are much simpler and yet more complicated than the Wincors but come in two or more parts - the basic order receipt (illustrated) a card receipt (not illustrated) and a receipt for any collector's strips.

The fonts in use in both kiosks for printing the stamps now seem to match each other.

Both sets were cancelled by the Stampex first day cancel for this set.

Autumn Stampex "Faults" - NOT AN ADVERT

A brief search on e-bay through up another batch of Hytech "faults". These are strips with missing or poorly positioned text.They are on offer at up to just under £200. One example is illustrated below.

A similar occurrence was reported about a year ago where similar stamps were produced at Stampex. A note on their existence also appeared in Stamp Magazine. It was reported then that this sort of fault was produced by pulling on the strip as it was printed. The advice given at that time was not to touch these as they are not genuine faults but constructs by the purchaser.

To overcome this problem, the previous machine was modified by the addition of a guard. This was not included on the current design. 

Be warned! These are probably NOT genuine faults. I suggest that they should NOT be purchased.

A follow up item on the Norphil Blog has suggested that a fault did happen. One person commenting claims to have videoed this fault as it happened. The engineer was called and the fault fixed. The kiosk in question was A1.

I can confirm that at 12:37 this machine was working correctly on the Friday and the session number was 259. The above item from ebay and others on that site have session numbers around 300-310. Another correspondent on the Norphil Blog site reported that the kiosk was working at 14:45. 

I still have some doubts but, given the circumstances from Autumn 2011 Stampex, I feel that it is best to question an item than pay over hard cash and then find out that someone has "worked the system".

NOT AN ADVERT

There also seems to have been a bit of a slip up in installing stock (possibly on the Saturday) where the cattle stamps had been put in the printer that previously was used to print the flags. This occurred on kiosk B1 which was at the back of the Royal Mail stand.

Some genuine varieties have been posted on ebay. These are cattle stamps from Wincor-Nixdorf kiosks where, for some reason, font 1 has reappeared leading to the usual partially missing text varieties.

This examples, here, are from Kings Square, Gloucester with the office ident 014523. This fault has been reported at this office on previous issues. 

Strips of the missing "up to 10g" variety from the same machine are also available on e-bay.

NOT AN ADVERT

Autumn Stampex Part 2

I managed another visit to Stampex today for the release of the Cattle faststamps. Cover was arranged and off I went with my first stop being William IV Street/Trafalgar Square (015010). Kiosks 1 and 2 were vending sheep and 3 and 4 the cattle stamps. A set from kiosk 3 was purchased and put onto FDC (which was subsequently posted at Stampex). Individual examples from each kiosk were purchased. 

Trafalgar Square Kiosk 3 (28/9/12)

Kiosk 4 has been producing a variety on the receipt were the address is on a single line and in lower case text.

Trafalgar Square receipt from 26/9/12. This format was also seen on the 28th.

Next stop was Aldwych (008010). There  was the suggestion on a blog that a third kiosk may have been installed. I can definitely state that there are still two kiosks at this office vending cattle stamps.

Back to Charing Cross underground and the Northern line to Euston then change to the Bank branch to Angel and the Design Centre. I arrived around 12.30 and the Royal Mail stand was quieter than it was on the morning of the first day but it was still doing good business.

Kiosk A1 was set up to just sell the cattle stamps while A2 was vending both jubilee flags and cattle. The cattle stamps were also available from B1 and B2 from the counter. I purchased examples from all four kiosks and prepared a cover using stamps from A2.

Kiosk B1 at Stampex (28/9/12)

The presentation packs were also available. The stamps have the data string A9NL12 C2-051840-06.

Final stop was Old Street (028003) where the same blog reported that two more kiosks were due at the end of July. This office has undergone quite a make over giving it a more spacious layout by removing some office space. There are four kiosks numbered 2, 1, 3 and 4. Kiosk 2 was out of order during my visit but other three were vending the cattle stamps.

 Old Street Kiosk 3 (28/9/12)

Old Street Kiosk 4 (28/9/12)

In the last Stampex  blog entry, I mentioned the number of receipts issued for an order. As well as the receipt for the overall order, receipts were produced for each of the collector’s strip and another for the card payment. All but the card payment receipt are illustrated here.

Finally an example of the flag stamp from the new kiosk (number 3) at Clapham on the 26th September with the associated receipt.

Autumn Stampex 2012 – The First Day

Autumn Stampex opened at 11.20 a.m. on the 26^th of September. The weather was slightly overcast. The big news for GB and ATM collectors is the presence of two new kiosks from Hytec. In addition, two further kiosks are in the back of the stand to run off pre-ordered faststamps. 

The programme of releases during the show include Flag fastsamps with and without the Jubilee overprint, Pig fastamps for the first two days and the new Cattle faststamps from Friday 28^th to close of show. All of the faststamps will have a new office ident and machine ident. Thursday 29^th sees yet another Olympic minisheet.

For this show, the Royal Mail stand is up one level and at the back of the hall. I suspect it is to encourage people beyond the entrance of the fair. Most of the early visitors seemed to be heading there to access the Hytecs or fill the gaps in their collections from the main part of the RM stand.

My target was the Hytecs. However, there were teething problems. A check on one kiosk threw up a little error on the “Europe up to 40g” which required a last minute reprogramming before we were allowed access to the machines. It originally read “up tp”. This change then lead to problems getting the machines working with a number of re-boots required which delayed things for 20-30 minutes. This was followed by printer error messages every so often requiring the engineer to open the units.

Kiosk A2

Kiosk A1

Visible inside the unit were three printers in the order stamp, receipt and stamp. From the angle that I viewed the “works” I could not see much more than the printers and what could be a power supply unit. I also noticed a toy racing car and suggested that they had done away with the conventional bus system and replaced it with a “high speed racer”. It didn’t go down well. (A2 is the closed kiosk and A1 is open).

From what was being said, there were also similar problems with the backroom kiosks and the engineer was making regular trips back and forward.

Unfortunately, the reflections on the screens make it difficult to photograph the text.

Flags Kiosk A1

Pigs Kiosk A1

Flags Kiosk A2

Pigs Kiosk A2

Both public machines were set up to deliver either the flags or the pigs. Kiosk A1 was not producing flags with the Jubilee print while Kiosk A2 plus the two in the back were. It should be noted that the backroom kiosks (B1 and B2) were only being used to produce the overprinted flags to keep up with the orders (circa 1.30p.m.).

 Flags Kiosk B1

Flags Kiosk B2

As previously reported on the Norphil blog site and the postagelabelsuk web site, a new format for the office ident and kiosk ident is being employed on these kiosks.

A9GB12 A2-000026-01

A9GB12 is the “office” ident currently in use. The significance of the first A is unknown. The 9 signifies September, GB is Britain and 12 is the year 2012.

A2 is the kiosk identifier. A signifies that the kiosk is accessible to the public and the 2 identifies the kiosk.

000026-01 is the session number and the transaction number as with the Wincors and previous Hytec issues at Stampex.

I also must apologise for the quality of the images presented here. Usually I scan the faststamps before uploading but this time I used a digital camera at the show before applying the stamps to cover. I will be including scans of the receipts and upload the material shortly.

I hope to revisit this show on the 28^th and I will try to add a few more images of the units and screens.

Autumn Stampex 2012

The norphil.blogspot site has images of the Cattle and Flag faststamps to be used at Autumn Stampex. Of note is the data string on the two strips.

Cattle:
A9NL12  C2-051840-06

Flag:
A9GB12 A1-000001-01

The string from the Cattle suggests that these are from a batch prepared for use in the presentation packs since hare prepared with the same string 051840 which corresponds to May 1840 . Transaction number 06 was the first day of issue of the Penny Black.

The flag string suggests normal usage on a kiosk.

Of note is the office id which includes letters replacing the numerical sequence. As a guess, I think that the NL in the cattle string may stand for Holland (Netherlands) and the GB in the flag issue for Britain. The 12 is obviously the year of issue (2012). The A9 may susggest one of two possibilities - a model code or just the first use in September.

C2 and A1 are kiosk identifiers.

If you have any further info on these, email pmechuk@gmail.com

Autumn Stampex 2012

Stamp Magazine reports that two new Hytec kiosks will be at this show (26-29 September 2012). These kiosks will have additional features to those that previously appeared.

Initially, the kiosks will be vending the pig faststamps and a special edition of the flag faststamp with a jubilee overprint. When the new cattle faststamps appear, they will replace the pigs.

More as a when it becomes available.

Hytec Kiosk as used at the Spring Stampex 2012

Flag Faststamp Mailshot

Stardate: 250512

The latest addition to the growing number of faststamps depicts the Union flag. The reason for the issue is to honour the Diamond Jubilee. Both Hytec and Wincor versions have been seen – the former is from the presentation pack and the latter is the standard.

I sent off a number of covers (with payment) to a number of Wincor equipped offices throughout Britain. As of the 25th May 2012, I have had more than 50% back. In addition, I visited eight offices in central London. The tables below summarise my findings as of today.

Visited on 21/5/12

Postcode	Office id	Location	Kiosk/Session Number/Issue	Notes
WC2N	015010	William IV Street/Trafalgar Square	K1  87328 Pigs K2  79730 Pigs K3  81471 Flag K4  80572 Flag	Only two kiosks had the flag issue – kiosks 3 and 4. The other two were vending the pig issue.
WC2B	008010	Aldwych	K1  38739 Flag K2  23747 Flag
SW1H	010011	Broadway	K1  42997 Flag K2  98502 Flag
SW11	019001	Lavender Hill	K1  26729 Flag
SW4	005008	Clapham High Street	K1 6555 Machin K2 6959 Machin	Both kiosks were vending the Machins. Font 2 restored in both. “newvision®” at the bottom of receipts from kiosk 2. Kiosk 1 includes “London” in the address while kiosk 2 doesn’t.
SE1	004007	Blackfriars	K1 7053 Pig	“newvision®” at the bottom of receipt.
EC3M	030003	Eastcheap	K1 19565 Flag K2 88845 Flag	No address on receipts from kiosk 1.
SE1	006007	Borough High Street	K1 72653 Flag K2 67256 Flag

Mailshot Returns

Post code	PO id	Location	Date on Receipt	Kiosk/ Session/ Issue	Notes
AB11	002801	Aberdeen	21/5/12	K1 19550 Flag
B91	017246	Solihull	21/5/12	K1 74479 Flag K2 61602 Flag
BA1	015504	Bath	22/5/12	K1 8118 Flag K2 45210 Flag	Kiosk 1 address made up of both upper and lower case lettering. Kiosk2 address in lowercase. Has city of bath  as top line of address.
BA20	010925	Yeovil	21/5/12	K1 ------- K2 50035 Flag
BN21	017907	Eastbourne	21/5/12	K1 10017 Flag K2 -------	Kiosk 1 address in lower case on receipt.
DH3	003313	Chester-le-St	21/5/12	K1 15457
EX8	011519	Exmouth	21/5/12	K1  5142 Flag	Address in lower case on receipt. No space in the postcode.
HR1	008618	Hereford	21/5/12	K1 62300 Flag K2 71249 Flag
IP1	014130	Ipswich	21/5/12	K1 1421 Flag	Address has the town in block capitals - IPSWICH
IP33	004112	Bury St Edmunds	21/5/12	K1  53613 Flag	No spacing in the address on the receipts.
ME13	010941	Faversham	21/5/12	K1 11522 Flag
MK9	009109	Milton Keynes	21/5/12	K1 13627 Flag K2 16249 Flag	Kiosk 1 has both upper and lower case lettering. Kiosk 2 has the address in block capitals.
NE33	021329	South Shields	21/5/12	K1 3605 Flag K2 30567 Flag
OX1	014137	Oxford	21/5/12	K1 5983 Flag K2 5101 Flag	Address on the receipts from both kiosks in lower case. No space in postcode.
PE21	003202	Boston	21/5/12	K1 16322 Flag
PO6	003937	Portsmouth	21/5/12	K1 17520 Flag	Receipts using Ł instead of £
PO16	014937	Fareham	21/5/12	K1 43789 Flag K2 44158 Flag
RH10	007912	Crawley	21/5/12	K1 24519 Flag
S40	011340	Chesterfield	21/5/12	K1 57145 Flag K2 66780 Flag
SR1	005343	Sunderland	21/5/12	K1  321 Flag K2  3060 Flag
SS1	009140	Southend on Sea	21/5/12	K1 37066 Flag K2 54136 Flag
YO1	005349	York	21/5/12	K1 84330 Flag K2 71859 -71879 Flag

I will add to the above as and when more material arrives.