I went to a local post office to mail out some postcards and I asked the clerk at the post office if he could hand cancel my postcards, He looked at me strangely and said that I would need a non machinable stamp and have to pay the surcharge. I told him that other clerks have never asked for that for postcards and that he can refer to rule #164.224 but he didn’t want to hear non of it and said he is too busy to hand stamp postcards. This is a small USPS office and there was no line when I went, I looked around and said, I wouldn’t be asking when and if there is a long line but it’s empty right now and other times I have been to the same Post office there is downtime like now but he just looked at me like I was asking him to loan me money. This clerk is usually very nice and friendly but he flat out refused to budge on this matter.
After that encounter, I went to another local Post office and they also said they aren’t allowed to hand cancel, that the machines do that and they aren’t supposed to hand cancel at the counter.
So how exactly can I ask them to please hand cancel postcards? I am in Southern California - if that makes any difference.
Very strange ,here i have also tried many things to convince them to do date cancel on my mail, but i just go there around 3pm when PO is almost free of crowd.
They have told me at my post office they are not allowed to hand cancel mail any longer. My clerk still hand cancels items for me. She is the only one at my post office. When her boss is at the post office from the next town over neither will hand cancel any thing.
A couple months ago, I saw the clerk put a ton of low denomination stamps on the letter of the woman in front of me because she didn’t have any stamps then hand cancel them all, but when I asked for a hand cancel when it was my turn, the clerk refused, saying “They don’t like us to do that.” I’d buy it more if I didn’t personally witness special treatment, though…
I have asked for hand cancel twice so far. It was okay at the first post office. But at the second post office, the post office employee refused to hand cancel my cards and told me that I need to pay for it, which is confusing because I wasn’t asked to pay for hand cancel before. Maybe it depends on each post office?
I’m in Florida and I have no problem when I ask the clerks to hand cancel my postcards. They all do it promptly and I don’t have to pay any extra fees. However, the clerk once told me I need extra postage ($0.20 or so) if I send a postcard in a plastic sleeve.
i think it just depends on the post office and the clerks working? and sometimes it is just luck of the draw or regional policies. i havent had a ton of resistance in the northeast (sometimes even enthusiasm), even at the big downtown offices but from reading other threads it is difficult in parts of the west coast for some reason.
it may help to build a rapport with staff too; the more they get to know you, the more they may be willing to provide better customer service.
my favourite clerk calls it “giving stamps the bullseye” and will usually set it aside to do after, if i have a large stack of cards or if there is a line behind me. at this point i dont even ask, she just does it
Read, print and show section 164.23 Philatelic Hand-back, from POM (Postal Operations Manual, USPS).
My postal associates always let me cancel my mail at the counter.
Or, I can cancel it with my MPP canceling device, at home. USPS Form 3615. I have a Facebook group about MPP.
There are two clerks at my local post office, one is an angel who never has a problem with giving my mail a hand cancellation. The other is a beast who tells me she won’t do it. The cards that receive the hand cancel get put through the machine canceling anyway, more times than not. I really hate the USPS.
I asked for a hand cancellation back in my hometown Seattle over a year and a half ago. I was told the same thing, they said they don’t do hand cancellations anymore. I was so flabbergasted, I didn’t really discuss or argue with them, particularly as it was a big USPS downtown that’s busier, but I found it very perplexing. After all, how do the stamps on non-machinable mail get cancelled? I was told if it turns out a piece of mail is non-machinable, then it gets hand cancelled at that point, but not at the desk. Weird.
In this particular case, the only reason I even waited in line and asked for a hand cancellation was because the member requested hand cancellations on their cards in their profile.
To the OP, you can always write the postmaster of the office and note in an envelope with the card, explaining why youd like the cancel and also reference the postal regulation in the handbook.
If you get a problem you can contact the main distribution centers postmaster. Since youre in Oceanside, its the same one for San Diego County. Margaret sellers processing and distribution centeralso called San Diego.
Postmaster
11251 Rancho Carmel Drive
San Diego CA 92199-9998
