Wincor Nixdorf and Hytech Scrapbook

I have just started working on another project based on these two kiosks varieties within Britain. To this end, I need lots more information. I need listings of what people have in their collections but in an unidentifiable form for security. What I require is office/date//kiosk/session number/issue data along with any other data on the receipt and office.

Could I have the data in the form:

Office location       ID code      Date      Kiosk   Session      Issue                      Notes

Trafalgar Square    015010     29/2/14      5       09876       Freshwater3           Address in lower case on

                                                                                                                         receipt. Font 1 on stamp

The more data I receive, the better the picture that can be put together on the usage of these kiosks and what they have produced. 

I can handle doc and xls files.

E-mail: pmechuk@gmail.com

I DO NOT ENDORSE ITEMS FOR SALE ON EBAY OR THROUGH ANY DEALER.

I have just noticed a reference to my blog on e-bay. I feel that I must clarify that I do not endorse any sale(s) of Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech material on any site and, therefore the decision to purchase the item depends on whether you are happy with the description. Any data I place on my websites or blogs is based on the information that I have at the time of writing. It is NOT to endorse sales for dealers - professional or amateur. 

Therefore, I take serious exception to any mis-use of data or  information that I publish to make a sale.

My intention in publishing the information that I collect is to ensure that collectors have the best data available to build a representative collection of Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech material NOT to make money for people. 

The reason that I started to produce the ATM Informer and published the first issue of Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech ATM Listing is to try to get the best information out to individuals. Both publications are starting to pay dividends and is fostering discussion within this area of collecting.

I do not give advice on what to buy. I do not deal in stamps or any other collectible. I do not endorse others sales. I do not like the mis-use of terms such as "scarce" and similar.

The only real advice that I do give is as follows:

Consider carefully what is on offer and check with other sites/dealers before committing. 

Purchase what interests you.

Always purchase within your budget.

I also recommend the website postagelabelsuk.com. It is very reputable and worth consulting. It does NOT endorse products but gives quality information in this area.

Thank You

I have had some feed back from those who have received copies of the Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech book. It has been very positive. 

However, I feel humble at the generosity of you. Some neurological charities have already received donations. There is not much that I can say but

THANK YOU!

Typical, Blooming Typical!!!

I know that I have been threatening to publish a catalogue/listing of Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech material for the last year but it is so typical that as soon as I finish the word file to a pdf and send out the converted file that I get the news of a new Wincor installation in Derby. 

I haven't read all the details of this office yet but I will have more information in the ATM Informer issue 6 around the end of the month.

Anyway, the Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech listing is now available free of charge from pmechuk@gmail.com. If you like the contents and wish to contribute something back, there are a listing of four charities just inside the cover page. A donation to any of them would be most welcome.

ATM Informer Issue 5 is Now Available.

The fifth issue is now available for down loading from my pmechuk website or the ATM Informer website. Either way, the newsletter is FREE. You can even e-mail me for a copy.

I still require data on session numbers, dates and what was available at Wincor-Nixdorf equipped offices within the UK. I know that the information is available given the number of views on the Stamp Magazine Forum thread and the large number of items for sale on e-bay. As may be seen in the Informer, a picture can be painted of the usage of the kiosks and when events have occurred such as resetting the session counter. 

I would appreciate the data in the format:

Office                  ID               Date             Kiosk     Session Number  Variety

Trafalgar Sq  015010     29 Feb 2014            1             012345            Pondlife 4

I can accept the data in .xls  or .doc format.

e-mail address is   pmechuk@gmail.com

Faststamp and Post and Go Catalogue

Since the last posting, I have had some feedback which has suggested some modifications and additions. These are being worked on.

As regards publishing, the most probable format will be as a .pdf file. I am considering making it freely available to all but requesting a donation to Neurological charities such as the MS Society, Parkinson's or INS. I hope to have the final version complete in the next month or so.

Faststamp and Post and Go Catalogue

About a year ago, I decided to do something about listing what material was available from the Wincor-Nixdorf ad Hytech kiosks in the UK. For the last month, I have been circulating draft versions for comment.

Initially, I thought that the whole thing would be about a dozen A4 pages in length but, as time went on, this was a severe underestimate in size. So many developments have happened and just had to be included even if it is as a warning to the unwary.

This last year has seen Pop-up post offices, "private" overprints and fakes. These are all covered in the draft. Other side lines had to be included such as the meaning of the datastrings, leaflets, receipts and so on. The result is a draft of around 70 pages.

Once I have a definitive draft, I have then to solve the problem as to how best to distribute it. I am investigating a few possibilities but I am open to other suggestions.

So, I Have a Draft Publication, Where to Now?

For the last year plus, I have been trying to put together a catalogue covering the Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech produced to date and the associated material. I have got to the stage where I have a draft with most, if not all, of the issues listed along with a section on subsidiary material. 

My problem now is how to proceed. As a carer, I don't have the resources to print off a copy and then photocopy and bind a load of copies with the hope of selling them. I could always go down the route of e-publishing but the problem I have is no pay-pal account and I don't like using the internet for financial transactions. 

I would welcome advice and suggestions as to how best to proceed in publishing this 60 page booklet.

ATM Informer

The  fourth issue of my Newsletter on the UK Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech machines has just been uploaded to my ATM Informer Newsletter site and pmechuk site. Copies may be downloaded from either site or e-mailing me at pmechuk@gmail.com.

Included in this issue:

Salisbury Overprint

Forthcoming stamp shows, fairs, expos

Manchester Wincor Offices

Wincor-Nixdorf receipts part 1

Over 20 pages of information for free.

All contributions of data welcome!

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.

000000 Idents

I have just received some images from a contact which are very interesting. They all have the office ident 000000 which was last used at Trafalgar Square/William IV Street office in July 2012. The images may be seen on the Stamp Magazine website under Forum and Post and Go/Faststamps.

The examples appear, from postmarks, to have been posted in Bideford/Exeter/Devon area and dated 29 November 2012. They routed to the Heathrow World Distribution Centre (HWDC) and processed on IMP3. HWDC processing was as expected.

However, there are some major irregularities in the font used and the introduction of a new rate "Worldwide upto 30g" rate.

Images and full story may be found at: www.sites.google.com/site/pmechuk/

I have made contact with a few others and had replies suggesting that the items are very likely forgeries. If you have similar examples, please email me at pmechuk@gmail.com.

Apologies, I am having some problems uploading pictures to my blog site at the moment.

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.

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".

Twelve Kiosks, Four Offices and One Day (and no Partridge in a Pear Tree)

Yesterday, I had a day off from my duties. I had to go to Croydon for some information. I used this as an opportunity to visit four offices. These were Croydon (009013), Broadway (010011), Trafalgar Square (015010) and Farringdon Road (100003).

I can report that Croydon now has FIVE Wincor-Nixdorfs. According to information received, kiosks 4 and 5 were installed around April 2012. At the same time, kiosks 1 and 2 were modified to card only operation. All five kiosks were vending Robin stamps. Kiosk order (left to right) is 4, 5, 3, 1 and2.

Royal Mail have re-released the Robin stamp from the Birds 1 set for Christmas 2012 on 6 November 2012. Easiest way to identify the Christmas version is by having a pair.

Both of the Broadway kiosks were vending Robins as was the Farringdon Road office.

Trafalgar Square had kiosks 3 and 4 with the Robins while Pigs were available on kiosk 1 and Cattle on kiosk 2.

Collecting on a Shoestring 7: Visit to a Post Office

Q:  What is the most obvious way of starting a collection?

A:  Visit the local post office.

It sounds obvious but what exactly does one say at the counter? Probably, it would be best to time your visit to a quiet period. That way the counter staff should have more time to help you and you certainly won't upset the people in the queue behind you.

The most common stamps that you will find available are the definitive stamps. In Britain, these tend to be the Machins but each of the four countries has its own "pictorial" definitives. Obtaining example of each mint (unused) will give you a start. For some collectors, the important part of the sheet is the bottom left hand side which has the "cylinder" details and is usually collected as a block of six. But that is the road to another speciality. There are also booklets of stamps.

It may also be possible to obtain examples of recent comemmorative/special issues. These are usually available from the philatelic bureau (in UK) for up to 12 months but there may be some available in the counter book. Some of the main post offices still have someone who deals with philatelic inquiries and should be able to help. William IV Street/Trafalgar Square, in London, has one such position.

Note that these stamps should NOT be mounted in your album using stamp hinges. Either us Hawid strips or use a stockbook to store mint stamps. Some albums are available that allows one to collect used  which a mounted directly on to the page and mint stamps slotted in to "pockets" on a clear leaf over the page.

Royal Mail have about 150 offices equipped with Wincor-Nixdorf ATMs marketed as Post and Go to the customer which allows the purchase of stamps for a number of services as well as allowing the payment of other goods. These kiosks can have a definitive Machin version or a pictorial issue. That depends on which roll is withdrawn from stock to refill the kiosk. There are labels that look like the computer generated Smartstamps. There are some, including myself, who collect these.

When abroad, it is always worth a visit to a post office. You can compare their services with the your at home service. But most of all you can add to your collection at face value rather at dealers' prices.

Good hunting.

Clapham Common and Old Street

Over the Summer of 2012, three additional kiosks have appeared at these offices - one at Clapham Common  (005008) and two at Old Street (028003). I visited these offices on the 26th and 28th September respectively to obtain examples of all three kiosks. These are illustrated here.

Clapham Common 

This office is at 161-163 Clapham High Street SW4 7ST. The closest underground station is Clapham Common.

Old Street

Practically on the door of Old Street underground station, this office is at 205 Old Street EC1V 9QN. The station is out of shot to the right in this view and is accessed by a slope. This office was refurbished in July 2012 opening up the part of the office to the left of the entrance. The order of the kiosk are 2, 1, 3 and 4 from the front of the office.

Items from kiosks 3 and 4 are illustrated below.

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