Do postmen/women notice the stamps on mail?

[wild1952]

The question refers of course to mail handlers, at processing centres, delivery offices, and on the walks.

In some collector forums, when the occasional letter gets 'lost in the post' (and we know how many reasons there might be for that!) the suggestion occasionally crops up that the use of 'attractive' special stamps rather than the ordinary every day ones, may be the reason for the bad apple postman to steal the letter (irrespective, perhaps, of the contents).

I've dismissed this notion more times than I can think, praising the people who handle our mail, but it made me wonder whether the people who handle the mail - normally too busy looking at the address - ever notice the stamps unless they are already collectors. (I know I did when I was on the rounds, but then I had been a collector for 40 years!)

Contributions and experiences welcome - please tell!

[arnold cheshire]

no i dont notice any stamps there doesnt seem to be any special ones at all on post

[stokes11eg]

Well --despite the bad press, very few posties steal. There are many reasons for letters not arriving.From incorrect/ incomplete addresses, to many not having had the stamps put on at all.
Secondly, I usually notice stamps --mainly because of their rarity! Most mail is now franked, and usually you are lucky to have more than a dozen letters a day with real stamps!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No stamps are like hens teeth - the only ones I notice are the first day covers but thats because they are what they are.

Used to collect stamps in the 70s when at school and a first day I have from them I saw on Ebay for less than a £10. Not much money in them now. Unless you have one of these I suppose.


£375 just for the sheet

[arnold cheshire]

No stamps are like hens teeth - the only ones I notice are the first day covers but thats because they are what they are.

Used to collect stamps in the 70s when at school and a first day I have from them I saw on Ebay for less than a £10. Not much money in them now. Unless you have one of these I suppose.


£375 just for the sheet

whys that so special ?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

whys that so special ?

Because of 1 stamp on the sheet



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[fishtank]

I've always wondered and maybe our stamp collector friend could tell me but since "cock ups" like this one and the famous upside down aircraft are worth so much more wouldn't a fine upstanding printer of stamps be slightly tempted just to run off a few "inverts"....just as some kind of pension bonus.

[arnold cheshire]

whys that so special ?

Because of 1 stamp on the sheet



http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... wrong.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

can that be used as a stamp? theres no value on it as far a i can see

[Lounge Lizard]

whys that so special ?

Because of 1 stamp on the sheet



http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... wrong.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

can that be used as a stamp? theres no value on it as far a i can see

It isn't a 'stamp', it's a 'label' printed alongside an ordinary First Class stamp.
Back to the original question I think most postal workers don't really notice the stamps.

[arnold cheshire]

whys that so special ?

Because of 1 stamp on the sheet



http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... wrong.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

can that be used as a stamp? theres no value on it as far a i can see

It isn't a 'stamp', it's a 'label' printed alongside an ordinary First Class stamp.
Back to the original question I think most postal workers don't really notice the stamps.

so how can that be worth a lot of money ????

[Lounge Lizard]

whys that so special ?

Because of 1 stamp on the sheet



http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... wrong.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

can that be used as a stamp? theres no value on it as far a i can see

It isn't a 'stamp', it's a 'label' printed alongside an ordinary First Class stamp.
Back to the original question I think most postal workers don't really notice the stamps.

so how can that be worth a lot of money ????

Because just like 'Special Stamps' these 'Post Office Label Sheets' are issued to make money out of collectors and errors, due to their scarcity, are of course worth more.
Stanley Gibbons sells this 'Glorious England' sheet of 2007 correctly inscribed 'WIGHT' for £24 adding that "On labels from the original printing 'Isle of Wight' was incorrectly spelled 'Isle of White'. These were recalled before issue but some were released in error".
- and shouldn't 'spelled' be 'spelt' ?

[Lounge Lizard]

no i dont notice any stamps there doesnt seem to be any special ones at all on post

Yes, few special ones are of these there are nearly as many old ones as new ones, and by old I mean from the 'seventies, 'eighties and 'nineties, many bought by collectors and dealers during this era but now worth less than face value so used up at a loss postally. In the last few months I've seen 7½p York and 3p Christmas stamps, both from 1971, used and 3p then being the basic first class rate they're worth little more than one-twentieth of when purchased over forty years ago.

[Royal_Fail]

I tend to notice the unfranked stamps alot more now that i put cross thru them something i've never been trained/told to do but i do it anyway

[FairyFoot]

I tend to notice the unfranked stamps alot more now that i put cross thru them something i've never been trained/told to do but i do it anyway

What a shame. I sometimes pass used stamps onto charity or stamp collectors, but they won't want squiggled ones.

[fishtank]

I tend to notice the unfranked stamps alot more now that i put cross thru them something i've never been trained/told to do but i do it anyway

What a shame. I sometimes pass used stamps onto charity or stamp collectors, but they won't want squiggled ones.

It's supposed to be part of our job to manually cancel stamps that have been missed,to be fair not many of us bother/know about it now.