I’ve noticed that when users post pictures of my sent postcards, they are frequently postmarked/cancelled on the image side of the postcard. The stamps do not get cancelled, and the nice side of the postcard is marred. With everything going on nowadays, I’m just grateful when my postcards are received in a timely manner, but it would be nice if the recipient could get a proper, nicely cancelled card. Has anyone else experienced this or have any insight into what might be going on? Is my post office’s machine broken perhaps? I live in a busy city and have gotten dirty looks when I’ve asked for them to hand cancel my postcards, so I don’t want to resort to that.
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I received a card from you yesterday and there is a postmark on the front but the stamp is also cancelled. I am thankful the post office here does not mind hand cancelling the cards.
Weird! Thank you for letting me know how it arrived.
I get so many legible, beautifully postmarked cards from other countries and want to be able to provide the same to others. I’m actually thinking of driving to one of the smaller towns nearby to get them hand cancelled in batches, but I’m not sure if others would care if the postmark is nice or not. I geek out about philatelic things like that but not everyone might. 
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It happens all the time, and I think it’s because someone’s not paying attention and not putting the cards in the machine the right way.
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I’m glad you mentioned this. I notice a lot of my cards from the US have a black smudge on the front. It really sucks because the postcard images are great. I’ve tried to remove it but haven’t found a way to get rid of it. I didn’t even know how to articulate it on the forum until you did a nice job of describing it. Thanks for raising it!
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It’s validating to know that you’ve experienced this, too. USPS does many things really well, but this is one area where I’m a little disappointed.
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Yes, that happens often with US cards. I don’t mind. And that is one reason to upload the card before sending and then the image is not spoiled.
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The US post office machine prints a bar code along the bottom, right of the back of the postcard. This is instead of the post marks on the stamps. If the postcard gets misdirected somewhere along the way, it’ll get another bar code in pale, florescent orange ink on the front side of the postcard to get it back on track. You can see these markings more clearly on envelope mail. Most times now you have to go to the clerk at the post office to get a “real” post mark on the stamps. Unfortunately, a lot of the clerks aren’t thrilled about doing it, but it IS their job. I always explain it’s for a collector and might even talk about Postcrossing a bit. But I only do it for people who ask for postmarks.
I hope that helps explain the process.
PS - I was a mail carrier for 5 years, until 2020.
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Some cards I received from US have some black smudge and orange barcode on the image side. Sometimes, the middle part of the image side is also scratched. Most likely because of the machine sorting each postcard.
And yes, the stamps are not cancelled.
I don’t mind receiving cards like that, as it’s part of the postal service processing the card.
There’s this one postcrosser who sent me a card with a layer of paper on top of the image side. It’s easy to remove it, since it was attached with washi tape. I was surprised to see this, but then I realized that it was done so that the card wouldn’t get the orange barcode, nor the black smudge from the cancellation.
I am not sure about tagging her (the postcrosser who did this) here.
You see that the orange barcode and the smudge from cancellation are on the paper, which is removable.
I appreciate this and I told her this is a really great idea.
I know this is an extra job to do before sending your cards, so this may not be for everyone. I don’t and I won’t ask US postcrossers to do this. It’s a great idea if you wish to make sure that your card will arrive without the scratch, the orange barcode and cancellation on the image side. 
I thought this was only for outgoing mails from USA. Until I got a hurray message from another forum user who took picture of the card. I saw the scratch in the middle. Which ruined the card a bit.
Since then, all of my outgoing cards to USA will be sent with a piece of paper covering the image side, as shown in the picture. Except the shaped card. It’s more difficult with shaped card. My wish is that the recipient will get a pretty image side, without any stain, or any scratch from the machine. 
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So true! I sent a series card to myself for my collection, chose the exact stamp I wanted and mailed to to myself. It arrived five days later uncanceled. I put it back in the mail as is. It showed up four days later still uncanceled. Finally I brought it to my post office where I asked the “customer service professional” behind the counter to hand cancel it for me. She huffed “It’s not my job”. I put it back into the mail stream. It arrived canceled on the picture side.
My grandmother tells me that when she was young, you could mail a card in the morning and the receiver would get it that afternoon (if it was staying in the city), with a beautiful clear cancellation. It cost four cents. We’ve progressed so much.
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How cool! Thank you so much for your insight into the process.
The smuges and black marks on the front of the postcards are from the rubber rollers in the sorting machines. They get worn down and smudge the cards. I think it happens to our postcards because of the finish on the cards. It’s so frustrating!
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This cancellation on the picture side it’s been going for the last 2 months. My experience is they are being cancelled on both sides. When I send a card most of the time I ask for hand cancellations but still I think it gets the automatic cancellation on top of it. I like the idea of placing a paper with washi tape on the picture side, maybe I’ll try this one day.
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Hi, yes I did received a couple of postcards with that problem, and not only from the USA.
Asking for a envelop to protect, but some countries ask for more postage money, and that not nice to ask.
Lucky my country does not make a difference.
And sometime people just love the traveling damage.
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I don’t mind the traveling damage. It shows it’s history. I enjoy the non cancelled stamps too.
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I have received a lot of postcards now with scuff marks on the front erasing a part of the image. The postal equipment I believe needs a thorough inspection and a cleaning round perhaps. As for the barcode I have noticed sometimes they apply a thin white removable tape sticker and print on them rather than directly on cards but yes! Most of the times its directly on the front image of the cards, ruining it.Not to mention the postage stamps on them are sometimes Pen/marker canceled too even when they were already postmarked which is frustrating as hell for a collector.
To be frank the bar code thing is not as bothersome as this is for me
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Oh my! They marker cancelled the stamps right above the sticker asking not to do so! 
Are they mocking us?! Vandals! 
Yeah, I also have a “collection” now of cards and stamps, vandalised by postal workers 
They even manage to damage the cards sent in an envelope - real crackjacks! This is just a small part of it, and I’m not even showing the cards with scuff marks and erased pictures - almost every incoming card has them (some are more lucky, some - not so much…)
So the bar code on the picture side of the card is the last thing that’s bothering me among all this…
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This is a neat idea however its real cumbersome to be executed for each and every postcard we send. I use this method mainly for the Maxi cards since it will be a pity if the gorgeous stamp and postmark combo on them is subjected to torture from the postal equipment.
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Oh the massacre pains my heart to see a mail ruined like this be it an envelope or postcard.
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