Hand canceling question

I am confused. What is the purpose of hand canceling invites? I thought that it meant that there is nothing stamped by the post office on the front of the invite. WELL when I went this morning to send out FIL’s invitation (gotta get it to them before anyone lol) the guy behind the counter took out a HUGE RED STAMP and stamped right over the stamp. I gasped and almost passed out and said to him “WHAT RU DOING!??!?!” He goes “umm hand canceling it”… I guess I was misinformed because I always thought hand canceling meant they stamp it on the back or something, so the envelope stays looking pretty.
eta.. he also said that even though they stamp them over the postage stamp, they still have to send them through the machine!!

Could it just be this particular post office/?

Re: Hand canceling question

No instead of the long tire tracks it is the one red circle on the front over the stamp. Looks better then the tire tracks...gotta love the PO

Re: Hand canceling question

oooooooooooh

TY!

Re: Hand canceling question

they do the red stamp, but it avoids putting the invitation thru the machines, which can rip or ruin them

Re: Hand canceling question

Yeah, the MACHINES is what can make the invites inside run also... sometimes they get tire tracks INSIDE (like inprinted lines from the machine)... and also the LONG black lines as they said.

The red circle is ONLY that. (which is nicer).

Either way, they HAVE to mark the stamp (so you can't use it again)

Re: Hand canceling question

eww my post office said that they put it through the machine in addition to hand cancelling them!! umm i guess i will go to another post office!

Re: Hand canceling question

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Posted by Future_Mrs_B

eww my post office said that they put it through the machine in addition to hand cancelling them!! umm i guess i will go to another post office!

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Definately go to another one. Mine did not do that.

Re: Hand canceling question

Plus if the invite is too thick it can get stuck in the machine...happened to my friend and a lot of people never got their invites! The one we got was all damaged and open.

Re: Hand canceling question

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Posted by Future_Mrs_B


eta.. he also said that even though they stamp them over the postage stamp, they still have to send them through the machine!!

Could it just be this particular post office/?

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Some post offices put letters through a machine that reads the addresses (to sort them). If a post office does this, it would have to go thru that machine even if they are hand cancelled. I don't think it makes any marks on the invite tho.

Re: Hand canceling question

I'd love them to get the invites not ripped and torn and I know the machine does that to them. I will have to investigate which post offices hand stamp. Any have any in Western Suffolk?

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But they will still go through the machine on the other end... when it gets to it's destination in order for it to be sorted.

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I hand cancelled mine and they still put them through the machine. They got messed up bc of this-I was really upset at first but now I'm over it. But it still *****!!!

Re: Hand canceling question

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Posted by Future_Mrs_B

eww my post office said that they put it through the machine in addition to hand cancelling them!! umm i guess i will go to another post office!

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You should go to the post office in Mineola off of Mineola Blvd. The woman with the blonde hair and glasses (she's there on Saturdays) helped us and was SO nice. She just did the red stamp for us and it didn't go through a machine.

Re: Hand canceling question

thanks!

Re: Hand canceling question

They put the big ugly red stamp on mine too, lady at po said it wont fit through the machine w/out ripping and leaving those nasty black marks