Post office

[Mandarine]

I decided to start a new thread to ask about this.

So I went to the post office Wednesday, got the pretty Love Stamps and asked to have them hand canceled. He first said he would do it later (as he had time), but then he saw it wasn''t that many so he did it right in front of my eyes.

He placed the red stamp and the dropped them in a bin. So I though..great!...all done.

Well, one of my bridesmaids got her and let me tell you...my outer envelope couldn''t get any more stamps!!...it has the barcode at the bottom and then the curvy lines on top of the stamp. Isn''t THAT what hand cancelling was supposed to prevent??

They addresses on the outer envelope smeared really bad also. From the machines you can also see a little smear damage on one of the inserts in the invite.

I am looking at a wedding invite a friend sent me and her outer envelope doesn''t even have ONE stamp.

So what? Did they just mess ME up or did I do something wrong??

Thanks in advance!!!

M~

 

[neatfreak]

My understanding is that hand cancelling is really only to avoid them getting munched up in the machines.

I didn''t realize that it was supposed to keep the outsides looking pristine too? Mine were hand cancelled, but still got the barcode, etc. at some point...

 

[Mandarine]

Well...not pristine, but this is a bit much...the address is even hard to read from the damage....

The barcode I can understand because that is probably from their sorting machine. But I don''t think it should have gotten the wavy stamp on top of the postage(that already had been stamped).

Isn''t that what hand cancelling is? to spray something on top of the stamp?...so my stamps are stamped/sprayed twice. That''s what doesn''t make sense...

 

[Mandarine]

So this is an image from weddingbee showing what a hand cancel stamp looks like
(mine has this)

 

[Mandarine]

and on top of that mine shows what is considered to be a "machine cancellation"...
which is the wavy lines (this is not the best image, but the only one I could find!)

 

[Mandarine]

So essentially I think I did the hand canceling for no reason at all because they also decided to have them run through the machine to get them canceled....

I still have a few invites to send out...how do I prevent that from happening? Was I supposed to give them a magic word or something? lol

 

[ladyciel]

Maybe the guy at the post office just goofed and put them in the wrong bin? I wish I had an answer for you, cuz that must be so frustrating to see all your hard work get hurt like that.

 

[Mandarine]

Date: 12/12/2007 11:08:32 PM
Author: ladyciel
Maybe the guy at the post office just goofed and put them in the wrong bin? I wish I had an answer for you, cuz that must be so frustrating to see all your hard work get hurt like that.

Yes...I wish I knew too. Boo on the post office!.

FI is going to call today and ask...so at least I know what to say or do when the next set go out.

The rest of my guests should be getting their invites today!...hopefully my friend was the worst case scenario (although he invitation barely had to travel because she lives 5 minutes from it!!)....but I''ll keep my fingers crossed!!

WORD OF ADVICE FOR YOU GUYS: Mail yourself an invite before you send all of them out. That way you can see if you need to do something differently. For example, I didn''t have an inner envelope because I thought with the pocketfold it was enough. Seeing how the outer envelope got destroyed I wish I had an inner envelope. I probably would have also tried to make some changes to the actual print on the envelopes (maybe a darker font?)..



M~

 

[aprilcait]

I'm sorry you're upset, hon'!

To be completely honest, though, I really don't think anyone would pay that much attention to the outside of an envelope (at least I don't). I just expect the post office to stamp, smear, mangle, and stain the envelope.

When I get something in the mail, I just glance to see who sent it, flip it over, and rip open the envelope. When I receive a card, I keep the card and toss the envelope. It's what is inside the envelope that counts.

IMHO, it's your beautifully stunning invitations inside that count, hon'. As long as the invitations, themselves, are in tact and the intended recipients receive the invitations, that's really what matters. That's just my two cents.

 

[janinegirly]

i think usually the post office says they will do their best to fullfill the request for hand cancelling, but it is not guaranteed. It depends on how busy they are and well, if they feel like it sometimes.

so that''s probably what happened here, It sucks, but you did what you could and end of the day it''s just a detail--which means it would make things more "perfect" if it went as it should, but if it doesn''t, no one really notices but you!

meanwhile, your invites are OUT..how exciting!! so much more real once that happens!