New Zealand Post Cancelation Changes

I received a form letter from the New Zealand Post - Stamp Centre -
dated 27 February 2006, which I have copied below. Is this a trend
that is happening in other countries? Does anyone care about this?
__________________________________________________ ____

Dear Collector

I thought it was important to take the opportunity to write to you
about some upcoming changes to how we cancel mail.

New Zealand Post is embarking on a significant period of change in our
mail processing business to ensure the business is sustainable and
meeting customers' needs in the future. Over the next few years we
plan to fundamentally change how New Zealand Post processes the mail.
This includes investment in new machinery in our major mail centre
sites of Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Palmerston North, Hamilton
and Auckland and changing how we operate.

As a result of the centralisation of mail processing, from March this
year we will be simplifying the way we cancel mail by gradually
introducing a national 'New Zealand Post' postmark for all mail
processed across the country. The new standard national postmark will
include date of cancellation to demonstrate our commitment to meeting
service standards, but will not longer include the place of
cancellation.

As you know, postmarks are used to ensure postage isn't used more than
once and to indentify, as required by law, which postal operator has
carried the mail. In the past, New Zealand Post has postmarked mail
with both the date and location of cencellation. However, as we
centralise the processing of mail, the location of cancellation
becomes a lot less relevant - and even confusing - to customers.

New Zealand Post values the commitment of collectors and appreciates
the importance and value placed on postmark. Please be assured that
any current arrangement you have with your local PostShop or Post
Centre to hand cancel postage will remain in place. In addition, we
will continue to provide the current cancellation services offered
through our Wanganui Stamp Centre. We will also be continuing to
offer pictorial postmarks in regional sites where they are currently
provided.

For further information please refer to notes overleaf or visit the
New Zealand Post website www.nzpost.co.ns/stamps . Should you have any
questions or concerns about these changes, please don't hesitate to
contact the Customer Service team at the Wanganui Stamps Centre.

Yours sincerely

Ivor Masters
General Manager, Stamps and Collections

__________________________________________________ _______


To see what the new postmarks will like, as well as a list of the
cancellation codes, go to:

http://stamps.nzpost.co.nz/Cultures/...stmarkService/


Cheers,

Charles

"Have A Nice Cup of Tea" wrote

On Sat, 04 Mar 2006 09:46:16 -0800, Charles Eggen wrote:

The new standard national postmark will include date of
cancellation to demonstrate our commitment to meeting service standards,
but will not longer include the place of cancellation.

Bad NZ Post. Bad!
Now, if there is no return address, it will make it harder to figure out
who sent a letter before opening it.

If you read the actual article, you'd see that the new
postmarks would still have a number code indicating
the office of cancellation. This would be no different
in practice to the 19th-century technique of indicating
place of posting with a "killer" cancellation of a number
and thick black bars.

I hope this dumb idea goes the same way that taking "New Zealand" off the
stamps also went - /dev/nul.

So when did NZ Post ever suggest taking the words
"New Zealand" off NZ stamps?

This is similar to what happens to most mail in Canada.

Instead of a 3 digit code, the cancels at the local
processing plant have the postal code of the
processing plant. (K0A J0X in the case of Eastern
Ontario, where I live.

However, in addition to this, there is an additional
number (3 digits) on the sprayed dot cancels. This
identifies a malfunction machine within a processing
plant so that any repairs can be effected, as required.

I have an example before me. It has 3 lines.
Line 1 : 060221 19:20 K0A J0X 093 ))))))))
YYMMDD HH:MM PostCode Machine#
Line 2 : www.canadapost.ca )))))))))
(1st slogan line)
Line 3 : www.postescanada.ca )))))))))
(2nd slogan line)

Yesterday (Mar 3 ) I received a different type of cancel.
I looks like a small roller cancel and I sauspect is used
on items that missed cancellation. There are no dots,
as in the spray cancel.

Line 1 : ~~~~ K0A / JOX ~~~~~
Line 2 : ~~~~ CanadaPost ~~~~~
Line 3 : ~~~~ PostCanada ~~~~~

Note: I suspect line 3 is in error and should read:
"PostesCanada" (French spelling) .

Blair

Dave Joll wrote:

"Have A Nice Cup of Tea" wrote


On Sat, 04 Mar 2006 09:46:16 -0800, Charles Eggen wrote:


So when did NZ Post ever suggest taking the words
"New Zealand" off NZ stamps?


I always understood that under the UPU convention all countries were
required to have their name on any stamp they issued for postage
purposes. Except Britian which had the Queens head.

But then it's a long time since I took an interest is philately.

On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:55:07 +1300, someone purporting to be Have A Nice
Cup of Tea didst scrawl:

On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:40:29 +1300, Bugalugs wrote:

*SNIP*
There were some stamps issued, briefly, here in NZ that did not have the
words "New Zealand" printed on them.

It was a few years ago now - can't recall exactly how long ago.

As soon as NZ became a dominion it would've had to have "New Zealand" (or
similar) on all issued stamps. I no longer have a stamp catalogue, so
can't check when we began printing it on our stamps.

--
Matthew Poole
"Don't use force. Get a bigger hammer."

Matthew Poole wrote:

On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:55:07 +1300, someone purporting to be Have A Nice
Cup of Tea didst scrawl:


On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:40:29 +1300, Bugalugs wrote:


*SNIP*

There were some stamps issued, briefly, here in NZ that did not have the
words "New Zealand" printed on them.

It was a few years ago now - can't recall exactly how long ago.


As soon as NZ became a dominion it would've had to have "New Zealand" (or
similar) on all issued stamps. I no longer have a stamp catalogue, so
can't check when we began printing it on our stamps.

Right back to the full face Queens the words New Zealand were on the
stamps. But I didn't think we became a Dominion until the mid 1920s

From: Bugalugs !
Organization: Xtra
Reply-To: !
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss,nz.general
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 14:40:29 +1300
Subject: New Zealand Post Cancelation Changes

Dave Joll wrote:

"Have A Nice Cup of Tea" wrote


On Sat, 04 Mar 2006 09:46:16 -0800, Charles Eggen wrote:


So when did NZ Post ever suggest taking the words
"New Zealand" off NZ stamps?


I always understood that under the UPU convention all countries were
required to have their name on any stamp they issued for postage
purposes. Except Britian which had the Queens head.

But then it's a long time since I took an interest is philately.

Hi
From memory there were 4 or 5 other countries that did not have the
country name or the very early issues. Belgium and Brazil come to mind. Also
look at the 1920 US series for the Plymouth Tercentenary.
Art

"Bugalugs" ! wrote

Matthew Poole wrote:

On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:55:07 +1300, someone purporting to be Have A Nice
Cup of Tea didst scrawl:

There were some stamps issued, briefly, here in NZ that did not have the
words "New Zealand" printed on them.
It was a few years ago now - can't recall exactly how long ago.

To the best of my knowledge, all stamps issued by NZ Post
or its predecessors show the words "New Zealand" or the
letters "NZ" somewhere in the design, with the sole exception
of the 5c "emergency provisional" stamp of 2004. That stamp
was not valid for overseas postage (and there was no rational
use for it on an overseas letter anyway) and a case could be made
that the stylized "NZ" of the NZ Post logo which features on
that stamp would be sufficient to identify the country of origin.

As soon as NZ became a dominion it would've had to have "New Zealand" (or
similar) on all issued stamps. I no longer have a stamp catalogue, so
can't check when we began printing it on our stamps.

Right back to the full face Queens the words New Zealand were on the
stamps. But I didn't think we became a Dominion until the mid 1920s

All countries must show the country name on their stamps,
except Great Britain and its constituent parts. This includes
British colonies (most of which have featured the country
name on their stamps from their first issue).

New Zealand became a Dominion in 1907, and this fact
was advertised on the 1909 series of stamps.

The UPU was only established in 1874
(effective 1875), so UPU rules would only
apply as of either 1875 or as of the date
the country joined the UPU (if after 1875).

The Universal Postal Union (UPU), with 1
90 member countries, has its Headquarters
in the Swiss capital Bern and is the second
oldest international organisation after the
International Telecommunications Union.

Dates of entry of each member country into
the UPU can be seen at:
http://www.upu.int/members/en/members.html

Belgium joined 01.07.1875
Great Britain joined 01.07.1875
(Note: GB's overseas territories joined 01.04.1877)
Brazil joined 01.07.1877
New Zealand joined 01.10.1907
(Note: NZ membership also includes: Ross
Dependency, Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau.)

A more recent example is Yemen. The 1925
issue did not have the country name on it.
http://cjoint.com/data/dfpXjbUnPk.htm
but they were only legal for domestic postage.

Yemen joined the UPU on 01.01.1930 and since
then their stamps bore the country name.
http://cjoint.com/data/dfpSqL6Hu2.htm

Blair

Great idea! I hope they go one step further and make the black felt tip
pen the only legitimate cancellation device. That way, the dozens of
high value stamps I have had felt tip peened by NZ Post over the years
will finally be worth something.