Postage Labels and Postage Codes

Yesterday I went to the post office because I completely ran out of any stamps. When I handed over two postcards, one to Russia and one to Latvia and told them I wanted to send them, they gave me the cards back with this on it:

Which quite surprised me! At other post offices I have been to they just put a stamp on there. And while this isn’t as pretty, I do like how they give so much information about when and how the card was mailed. I have received some in the mail before too from the Netherlands and Belgium:

So what is your opinion on these? Are they ugly and should be avoided or a cool way to learn about the card? Interested on what you will all think :smile:

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I don’t like them, first they are looking quite boring and second they’re often on the bigger end.

I was disappointed when those were the only option (at that specific counter) when I wanted to mail a card from NL last year.

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They make me sad - they could combine the info & add a cool image, but no, that would cost more money.

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They’re ugly.

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I’ve used similar labels in the past a few times when I ran out of stamps and have gotten quite negative reactions in the hurray messages so I try to avoid using them on anything Postcrossing. I personally don’t collect stamps so I don’t care what stamps or other postage people use but it seems to be a major issue for some people.

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I don’t collect stamps but I like to see pretty stamps on postcards and maybe learn something from them (who is that famous person? what is the anniversary celebrated on the stamps? and so on), so I think labels are just not interesting. However, I don’t feel disappointed when I receive a card with a label: I just imagine it was easier for the sender to use it, and I like to think that everything that makes your life easier, even for small things, is also ok for me :blush: But having real stamps on postcards does seem to be a big deal for some postcrossers, especially stamps collectors, so I always try to keep a supply of stamps at home and avoid labels whenever I can.

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I don’t like them, but in the end the main thing ist that the postage is paid! If it’s the only option, there’s absolutely no need to feel sorry for them. Stamps are just a way to pay for pastage when it comes to the practical function. :slight_smile:

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Personally, I have no issue with labels especially if that’s the only available way to pay for postage. But if I had the option of using labels or stamps, I would pick stamps because it would make the written side of the postcard look more interesting. I might pick the label if someone specifically asked for it in their profile.

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Although I’m not a collector, I do like seeing pretty or interesting stamps - they’re like jewelry for mail :grin:

It wouldn’t bother me at all to occasionally receive postcards with those labels - it might even seem like an interesting novelty - but if they became the norm, that would be a bit sad.

They could at least make them in a variety of colors, or something, couldn’t they? It seems like whoever designed those labels just doesn’t understand how special mail is.

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Ugly.
It’s a shame post office don’t have stamps any more.

Does NL issue a €1.55 single stamp?

To be honest, I don’t really like this… I hope it will never replace beautiful stamps. But I remember I read something about stamps being slowly replaced by these stickers in Sweden. Am I right? If you have more information, it would be interesting.

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Yes, there are single stamps with that value for international mail. Several, but unfortunately a lot of them are not available at the post office.
My post office will receive a batch periodically, they cannot choose beforehand wich ones.

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I don’t think so, not yet at least. We have something similar, but it’s definitely not something I’d use.
Iceland however have apparently stopped making stamps.

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But in my place,we have special labels.



And it will update by time.Differ post office have differ label

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In Brazil we need to buy the stamps in a specific post (philatelic post center) if you go to any other they will use those ugly automatic printed sticker.

That labels aren’t that, what I would call it a stamp. Here in Germany you can print out such thing as internet-stamp with matrix-code and you can even chose one motive/drawing, if you wish. Next thing for people without printer but a mobile is the mobile stamp, where an app gives out a code you can write onto the card/envelope.

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I love this thought/wording so much! You are absolutely right.

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I’ve gotten postcards with just a written code before. Honestly, I find them more disappointing than labels since at least with labels, sometimes you have pictures printed on them, too. I get that they are convenient and it’s probably easier for someone who is stuck at home and can’t get to a post office, but visually, they’re not any different than, say, a Postcrossing ID number.

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I wondered what that was! I got a postcard a few weeks ago with a code like this on it and I didn’t know what it was. I thought, how did this get here without a stamp?