I had something rare from Falkland island from swap… and they managed to stamp 2 of the stamps, only to red pen cancel the rest. Still very very thankful for the card though 
9 Likes
I think the stamps which were crossed out are Postage Due stamps which can’t be used as postage, so they only ink-cancelled the stamp which was used to cover the postage and invalidated the rest.
Russian post office was over-enthusiastic about canceling everything, including these excellent new Misha stamps. 
Even the picture side has cancels on it!
10 Likes
I don’t know what this postal worker had against David Bowie, but they didn’t mark over the flower stamp so I’m guessing it must have been personal! 
It’s probably the neatest stamp I’ve received so far - I’m so sad that they ruined it!
30 Likes
These regular awful ink marks on the front side are the reason I now ask everyone to send me postcards in envelopes. Tired of getting upset about spoiled postcards 
1 Like
It’s rare that I save American stamps…so naturally, when it’s one I WOULD save:
SIGH.
8 Likes
They even don’t do it with outgoing mail. Finnish stamps are usually uncancelled, when the cards arrive at me. Deutsche Post also does not cancel stamps from foreign countries.
2 Likes
This may be how it is done at your place, but not all over Germany. If I get mail from abroad without cancellation, it usually stays uncancelled.
I Intially thought that was from me, I have used the same stamp combination recently.
I’ve noticed that Royal Mail sorting teams never cancel Remembrance Poppy and WW1 stamps, always unmarked. Not sure why?
4 Likes
I think the front side cancel is likely from being placed on the last canceled card before that ink was DRY! When they are stamped and then immediately staked on top of each other this does happen.
My one caring postal lady is very careful to lay the cards out not touching each other for a while so they can dry…and only when dry does she stack and put into the post pile.
6 Likes
What a crime
2 Likes
I almost cried:
Why would you DO this, America? 
I’m used to the awful machine smears, but in this case a person had to take a permanent marker to EACH of these stamps and ruin it - one by one. And the lovely man who sent me this card had taken the time to match the stamps to the story on the card…I’m just SAD.
32 Likes
Wanted to share a more positive story than many of the others on this thread. The automatic machine cancellers mistook the postcrossing sticker as a stamp, but my local postal plant in a nearby town neatly put their own handcancel on the card. Now it serves as a pretty good tracking for the card, which made it across the USA in just two days! Very nice of them to take the time to do a handcancel instead of just using the nearest pen!
12 Likes
Thank you @pammykay and @jeffweiss for these cards! Did the USPS really have to obliterate this cute bunny with the cancellation mark? And why was the postmark put on the wrong side of the other card?
5 Likes
Items in the US go through an automatic reader that processes and identifies where each piece is going. If the reader can’t identify an address or number the piece is pushed out and has to be identified by an individual. I would imagine that is why some pieces have a pen mark through the stamp. Probably done this way around the world. I have gotten several cards with the pen through the stamp mark. It happens.
@MNViper What was the state of the other 13 unpictured stamps? Is there safety in numbers when you use 18 stamps?
In decades past, when local postmasters had downtime, they’d sometimes carve their own stamp cancellation devices with a piece of cork. Philatelists call the marks made with these devices “fancy cancels,” and they’re highly collectable. Unfortunately, the pen cancels on your stamps don’t look either fancy or collectable.
19 Likes
@jeffweiss
Yes, safety does come in numbers. The postmark you see here is the only defacing of any of the stamps on your card.
1 Like
In a way it almost seems pointless to cancel stamps (let alone obliterate them with a pen) on a postcard that’s being sent from one country to another. The point of cancelling a stamp is for “revenue protection,” i.e., making sure that the stamp can’t be re-used. But if a postcard goes from, say, France to the U.S., the recipient in America can’t re-use the stamp anyway, even if it hasn’t been cancelled, because he can only use U.S. postage to mail a letter.
7 Likes
I think some of the countries on the continent (I want to say Finland but that might be wrong) leave the cards intended for foreign parts unmarked.
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can confirm?
2 Likes