Stamps for a Non-Existent Service, by John Ryskamp

Editor's note: The following article appeared in issue 188 (July-September 2017) of The EFO Collector.

After a long drought, finally something new at the kiosks. The last day of the First Class Mail Parcel service (FCM PARCEL) was September 2, 2017. This ends the life of a service, the first day of which was May 20, 2007. A ten year run, full of incidents. The history of this kiosk stamp would make a wonderful single-stamp exhibit. The change on September 3 was the result of the transfer of FCM PARCEL to the competitive product list and the renaming of the service.

The service--but not the stamp! September 3 was when the service names changed to First Class Package Service, and First Class Package Return Service. However, the corresponding kiosk stamps were not changed until October 6. This means that first class parcel and parcel return stamps issued during the period September 3 through October 5, are errors, because they list services which no longer existed when the stamps were issued. Receipts confirm this (see the first scan, which shows a stamp for first class mail parcel, but the receipt for the same stamp shows first class package service). The scans show the error and first day items I have. They include stamps in which the new indicia were written over the old indicia on error stamps, once USPS informed me what the new indicia would say. These overwritten stamps were then overprinted with a datestamp.

The last time the kiosks dispensed stamps for a defunct rate or service, was back in 2007, when the kiosks continued to dispense the fixed value 61-cent IM stamp for several days after the rate no longer existed; these stamps are also errors. Defunct service or rate kiosk stamps are among the most important kiosk errors, because the kiosks so rarely issue stamps for defunct services or rates. If you have any of these error stamps, please let me know what you have.

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