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".

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

Tesco Brent Park Wincor Ident 074005

Stardate: 130712

On Tuesday, I returned to Brent Park with the hope of finally getting an example of a faststamp from this kiosk. The office ident is 074005. The kiosk was installed on 7 December 2011 but due to staff training issues it was some time before it was brought into service and one of the last kiosks to be upgraded to V2.

I was successful in obtaining examples and these are shown above. The receipts are in the same format as those form Tudor Street (and other offices). Other services where proof of posting are required are not available from this kiosk and one still needs to go to the post office counter.

Wincor Office Ident Error!

Stardate: 120712

On one of my rare days off as a carer (10 July), I managed to run around London to visit some relocate post offices with Wincor ATMs. I also visited a few of my regular offices to update the data on session numbers and what faststamps were available. I managed to visit 10 offices and 18 kiosks in about six hours. So it was a case  of in to the office, buy a first class faststamp and receipt from a kiosk before moving on to the next without noticing much on either at the time of purchase.

When I got back home, I sorted out my "stash" of faststamps and receipts only to find a rather usual office and kiosk ident - 000000 as the office ident and 0 as the kiosk - on a receipt from William IV Street/Trafalgar Square. Kiosks 2, 3 and 4 were giving the correct office ident of 015010.

Example of the 000000 office ident with the 0 kiosk ident.

Receipt from kiosk 1 pretending to be kiosk 0.

Kiosk 2 was vending pigs and kiosks 3 and 4 were vending sheep faststamps. See my Wincoralbum1 and
 Wincoralbum2 websites to see the evidence.

Attack of the Biro

Stardate: 090612

Two more covers from my “massive” mailshot have just dropped through the letterbox. Two envelopes with the Three Crosses, Swansea first day cancel. The envelopes were stamped and posted in Exeter by a member of staff at the Bedford Street Branch on my behalf. My thanks to the manager and staff there and at the other offices who have responded to my mailshot request.

The receipts have the PO oval that has been adopted as standard since the V2 software update. The address has a minor variation from the normal. The first line has the street name in lower case. The rest is in normal upper and lower case. The postcode has no gap between the outward and inward parts of the postcode. The data is presented below in the same format as the tables in previous blogs

EX1

021519

Exeter

21/5/12

K1 84953 Flag K2 -------- K3 --------

Kiosk 1: First line of address in lower case on receipt. Rest as normal. No space in the postcode

The big problem with the envelopes occurred downstream from the post office and the special handstamp centre. It probably happened in the “last mile”. Someone attacked the faststamps with a biro!!!!

Royal Mail – You do a great job and you have some wonderful staff but it is a pity that one or two let you down. Unfortunately, that happens in many organisations – a lot of work and excellent service by the many is let down by the odd one.

Under normal circumstances, this would not be a problem. Most people would discard the envelope as its contents would be the most relevant part of the item. For stamp collectors, the stamp and/or the envelope are important. With normal first day covers, one can return the cover and get a replacement. Normal stamps do not have an indication as to when they were sold printed on them but faststamps do. A replacement from this office and kiosk would have a session number in the order of 86000 plus given that more than two weeks have since passed since the day of release whereas I would estimate genuine first day items from this office to have session numbers in the approximate range 84900 to 85000.

I started a number of websites to document the usage of these Wincor-Nixdorf kiosks and to try to assist collectors determine the validity of the items that they are being offered. These websites are:

https://sites.google.com/site/pmechuk

https://sites.google.com/site/pmechuk1

https://sites.google.com/site/pmechuk2

https://sites.google.com/site/wincoralbum1

https://sites.google.com/site/wincoralbum2

If you can help by filling in the large gaps in data on each kiosk that has been used, either leave a comment on this blog site or email me at pmechuk@gmail.com.

Wincor Survey Results

Stardate: 030612

It has been about two weeks since the flag issue’s release and what has come back has dried up. Twelve out of thirty-nine offices targeted in the mailshot failed to return anything for some unknown reason. In some instances, it may be that the request and/or payment failed to get through because it went missing in the sorting office. One item from this mailing is known to have arrived at the destination complete except for the payment which went missing en route.

Other previous mailings have also disappeared with payment. All were processed at the same outward mail centre. I can only guess what happened to the missing correspondence.

Unless otherwise indicated font 2 were in use in all of the kiosks reported.

		MAILSHOT
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
B98	009246	Redditch		K1	No return by 2/6/12
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.
CO1	010116	Colchester	24/5/12	K1 46964 Flag K2	21/5/12 Receipts not printing. 24/5/12 NORTH HILL in block lettering on receipt.
DA1	002104	Dartford	28/5/12	K1 25033 Flag K2 28186 Flag	Original mailing arrived at this office (18/5/12) without payment – went missing en route. Replacement posted on 21/5/12. Problems with kiosks during the week 21-28/5/12.
DH3	003313	Chester-le-St	21/5/12	K1 15457
DN31	012311	Grimsby		K1 K2	No return by 2/6/12
EH1	003824	Edinburgh		K1 K2	No return by 2/6/12
EX1	021519	Exeter	See Blog of 9/6/12	K1 K2 K3	No return by 2/6/12 See Blog of 9/6/12
EX8	011519	Exmouth	21/5/12	K1  5142 Flag	Address in lower case on receipt. No space in the postcode.
G2	002832	Glasgow	21/5/12	K1  77736 K2  83821-83861 Flag K3  77287	Only examples of K2 returned but receipts from all three kiosks sent.
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.
LU1	006134	Luton	21/5/12	K1 69169 Flag K2 63379 Flag	Kiosk 1 had the address in full and in lower case. “=” used between smiths=lane and no gap in postcode. Kiosk2 in block lettering and consisted of ARNDALE 42SMITHLANEMALL.
M2 5	009422	Brazennose St Manchester		K1 K2	No return by 2/6/12
ME10	007941	Sittingbourne		K1	No return by 2/6/12
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
NG1	007227	Nottingham		K1 K2	No return by 2/6/12
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
PR9	005427	Southport		K1	No return by 2/6/12
RH10	007912	Crawley	21/5/12	K1 24519 Flag
RH12	003912	Horsham		K1 K2	No return by 2/6/12
RH16	005912	Haywards Heath		K1 K2	No return by 2/6/12
S40	011340	Chesterfield	21/5/12	K1 57145 Flag K2 66780 Flag
SL6	005946	Maidenhead	29/5/12	K1   ------- K2 39229-20353 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
TN13	004948	Sevenoaks		K1	No return by 2/6/12
TN23	010925	Ashford		K1	No return by 2/6/12
YO1	005349	York	21/5/12	K1 84330 Flag K2 71859 -71879 Flag
		Visited	on	21/5/12
WC2N	015010	William IV	21/5/12	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	21/5/12	K1  38739 Flag K2  23747 Flag
SW1H	010011	Broadway	21/5/12	K1  42997 Flag K2  98502 Flag
SW11	019001	Lavender Hill	21/5/12	K1  26729 Flag
SW4	005008	Clapham High Street	21/5/12	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	21/5/12	K1 7053 Pig	“newvision®” at the bottom of receipt.
EC3M	030003	Eastcheap	21/5/12	K1 19565 Flag K2 88845 Flag	No address on receipts from kiosk 1.
SE1	006007	Borough High Street	21/5/12	K1 72653 Flag K2 67256 Flag
		Additions
HA1	022020	College Road, Harrow	2/6/12	K1 35561 Flag K2 4915   Flag	Font 2 on this date. Certificate of posting as a blank line between Harrow and the postcode whereas receipt doesn’t on Kiosk 1. (Visited on this date.)
HA1	022020	College Road, Harrow	21/5/12 22/5/12	K1 K2 4300 Flag K2 4423 Flag	Font 1 in use on 21-22/5/12 (Norphil)
AL	010033	St Albans	25/4/12	K1	Pig stamps on sale using font1. (Norphil)
GL1	014523	King St, Gloucester	25/5/12	K1 53890 Flag	Font 1 in use. (ebay)

I would welcome any reports on all offices. Please include date, kiosk, session and issue data. Other observations on the receipt content and format would be a bonus.