iLSM and Branding

A lot seems to be happening at Royal Mail postmark wise. The intelligent Letter Sorting Machines (iLSMs) have now got a new version of ink jet cancel and a new format cancel is being wheeled out over the Integrated Mail Processors (IMPs). Examples of both have arrived on my doorstep.

This is an example from iLSM 1 at Glasgow and is very similar in format to the IMP cancel. The number of bars depends on the size of the envelope in the same way as the previously reported iLSM cancels.

A number of private companies such as UK Mail and TNT have downstream access to the Royal Mail system and get a massive reduction in the price of last mile delivery (ie to the doorstep). Royal Mail now feel that it is important to stress who is actually delivering the mail to the customer and has come up with adding their cruciform logo and "Delivered by" to the mail. The prospect has the bigger companies worried.

An example of this new format cancel from Bath IMP3 is shown above. Similar markings will be appearing on PPI and meter paid items.

New Ink Jet Cancel for iLSMs

Stardate: 220612

Since the beginning of the year (2012), ink jet cancels have been used with intelligent letter sorting machines at a number of Royal Mail mail centres - see previous blogs. A new version has recently appeared at Exeter and now at Thames Valley (Swindon), Dorset and S.W. Hants and Jubilee Mail Centres. This version is very similar to that used by the IMPs - Integrated Mail Processors. 

I recently obtained examples of two of these cancels from iLSMs 3 and 7. These are illustrated below.

iLSM 3

iLSM 7

With the intoduction of "Branding" over the next few months, more new versions of these cancels are expected.

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.

Jubilee Mail Centre iLSM Cancels

Stardate: 140512

Further to my previous entries, it is now clear that there are four sizes of font being used in the new cancels that are being trialled at Jubilee, Edinburgh, Mount Pleasant, Swindon (Thames Valley) and Bournemouth. The table presented here summarises the four versions and how to identify them.

Type/ Version	Letter Height (mm)
1	2½
2	2
2½	3
3	3½

Unlike IMPs and Stamp Cancelling Machines (SCMs), envelopes are not presented for stamp cancelling inverted. The cancellation that the item receives is based on the envelope size presented and hence the variation in the size of the cancellation that the envelope receives.

Jubilee Mail Centre iLSMs

Stardate: 130412

Hopefully nothing will go wrong with this blog given the day and date - Friday the 13th!!!!

A friend kept some envelopes with the new inkjet cancel from the intelligent Letter Sorting Machines (iLSMs) at the Jubilee Mail Centre. I have scanned in the images of all these items and present them here along with one that I had obtained earlier and reported in a previous blog. It turns out that 5 or 6 machines and four varieties have been noted.

(1) Normal block lettering Tag743 gives ident as FAD on a cover dated 10 April 2012.

(2) Normal block lettering Tag743 gives ident as FAF on a cover dated 11 April 2012.

(3) Normal block lettering Tag743 gives ident as FAF on a cover dated 11 April 2012.

(4) Normal block lettering Tag743 gives ident as FAF on a cover dated 4 April 2012.

(5) Normal block lettering Tag743 gives ident as FAF on a cover dated 4 April 2012.

(6) Small italic lettering Tag743 gives ident as FDA on a cover dated 10 April 2012.

(7) Normal block lettering Tag743 gives ident as FDC on a cover dated 12 April 2012. Full Jubilee Mail Centre over two lines.

(8) Small block lettering Tag743 gives ident as FFD on a cover dated 10 April 2012. "Mail Centre" is missing from the cancel.

(9) Normal sized text with "Jubilee" in italics. Tag 743 is FFD on a cover dated 27 March 2012

I hope to get more information on the variations in the near future and I will produce another entry classifying these cancels. 

Intelligent Letter Sorting Machine (iLSM) Cancel

Stardate:110412

On my blog of 14th March 2014, I illustrated a new ink jet cancel that was in use at the Jubilee Mail Centre (JMC) in Feltham. (Close to Heathrow). This type of is being introduced throughout the country gradually. All of the iLSMs at JMC have been equipped with ink jet printers. The machines at South Midlands MC and now SW Dorset (at Bournemouth) are equipped with the ink jet printers and producing similar cancels.

Another version of cancel at JMC has now been seen in which "Jubilee" is in italics. Reports that I have received suggest that there may be at least four versions from this office.

The example is dated 27th March 2012. The actual identity of the iLSM may be obtained from the tagcode which is the four state bar code at the top of items from Britain. The tagcode associated with this cancel is also present in the image.