Canceled Cinderella.overly Enthusiastic Postal Employee

I got some interesting mail over the holidays but this one made me chuckle. Not only did they cancel the stamps on top and mark them all with pen but they flipped it around and canceled the cinderellas as well! Thought I would share.

All done automatically. The automatic facer-canceller machine detected the seals and cancelled them first before the cover was ever seen by a human. During later processing the cover was found to be mis-faced and run through again in the correct direction.

@JohnBecker
interesting!

With modern automation of facing, canceling, bar coding and sorting to carrier delivery sequence, the typical letter dropped into a blue box on the street corner will not be seen individually by human eyes until your carrier puts it in your mailbox.

So do they check all the letters at the mailbox and then scribble on the stamps?

Some carriers will scribble-cancel the stamps, but most won't bother. They are more interested in matching the address to the box and not the stamp at this point. Once applied, the stamp is considered "used". Quite frankly, the USPS assumes most people are honest and have paid the correct postage. They don't have the time to check each letter and collect a few cents due here and there.

I don't mind a cancellation on a Christmas seal, so long as it is not and ugly cancellation. This example was ugly.

During the holiday season of 2024, I received a card from a friend (mailed, but they live very close to me) which passed thru the mail service. Letter was franked with a 2024 "Holiday Joy" booklet stamp (Scott 5942).

HOWEVER, there's a little design in the lower left corner of the cover that matches the card design. The cancelling machine apparently noticed this design instead of the stamp and cancelled the design. The top side of the cover has the little sorting barcode that the machinery prints at the bottom (normally), so I suppose this letter went thru the mail "upside down" and, since no human is likely to have looked at it until my Mail Lady got it, it was likely turned "rightside up" on the morning she delivered it :-}

Almost looks as if the image on the cover was a "cinderella" of sorts--taking the cancel and all. I saw the cover displayed in the original post, and it reminded me of this one I just received.

Stamp is uncancelled.

I'll add this cover to my collection :-}

Josh