Hi thank you for that, I might have to re-think my plan to send it to Canada and have it sent back to me then as not sure what to offer the person (If I could find someone) to do so. PLEASE don’t feel you have to offer. Thank you for your help.
I have found a lot of Canadian postcards I received are never cancelled, I wonder why that happens.
Not being cancelled isn’t a problem but the 
pen cancels are! Usually, they use ballpoints but this week I received a postcard where some eejit at Canada Post used a grease pencil! 
Why?!?!?
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I totally agree, pen cancellations are the worst. I just wonder, why they don’t use machine or manual stamp cancellations?
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I’d be happy to send it back to you!
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My guess … hand cancellations are likely an effort to prevent re-use. Which, I have learned today [this is an edit], is illegal. It also feels like I’d be stealing from myself and other Canadians as Canada Post is a Crown corporation, funded by taxpayers.
For anyone who might be interested, here’s an article that ponders the ethics (not legality) of re-using stamps that have not been cancelled: Is it stealing to reuse a stamp?
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Hi, it’s not one I received, but one I bought in a charity shop, it was in a box of postcards I got… 
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Would you? Well CUSHTY!
I’ll send you a Pm or U2U if it’s still called that, lol…
Pretty sure it is illegal & considered mail fraud, that’s why the cancellations are done. It costs postal systems billions of dollars in lost revenue. There’s another thread on this, including a video about hand cancelling I’ll link to here when I find it.
Okay, I spoke to an agent on the Canada Post helpline & they confirmed that it is illegal to reuse a stamp that has gone through the system, even if the cancellation marks are not visible to our eyes. Apparently there may be a mark that is only visible to the machine.
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Here’s a suggestion for you. You could exchange a number of your [stamped/uncanceled] Canadian cards in envelope with a member from Canada. It might work like this:
► You self-address your cards and send them to a Canada member
► Upon receipt, the other member writes a message on each card and returns to you, again in envelope
You could the same for the other member. Send them an equal number of UK cards, attach an inexpensive stamp and write a message on each. Then pop in an envelope and mail to them.
Everybody is happy with stamped & written cards. Just that they aren’t canceled, but that is our little secret LOL
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Hi well as far as I can see it’s not been used, but then perhaps when it arrives in Canada the recipient could check? I know here if the stamp was like this it would be accepted by the Post Office and Royal Mail.
Don’t know if you saw my update above, but apparently there may be an invisible cancellation mark that only sorting machines can see. And if you were to use the stamp again, it might get sorted out of the system.
I suppose it might not too, but why take the chance?
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The smeary machine cancellations from United States Postal Service are imho worse than hand cancellations.
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That Energy Awareness Month one… 
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Little off topic, but for about ten years ago there were rumours about these type of invisible cancellation in Finland. But, when you think it, what would be the point in that? To lure people in reusing stamps, and then catch them? And, when they don’t always succes to use the normal visible postmark, I don’t believe they have a different postmarker to use that for some mail, and then hope (?) the reusers happen to choose just this stamp for reusing purposes, that is stamped with invisible ink.
I think it’s just an urban legend. (Unless they mean the light neon orange version, which is visble, but not as good as the usual black/dark).
Edit. I’m actually interested, if this invisible cancellation -thing is told in many countries?
No, it’s not an urban legend apparently, it’s just high tech, nothing about luring anyone, it’s just what state the tech is in now
But why use invisible ink? In addition to the visible? Are stamp collectors supposed to buy equipment to see the marking? Or is this a secret that no one should know about 
.
It’s just the tech, beyond that, I don’t know the motivations & there may not be any - tech design often has no human logic
Doesn’t convince me. Of course there should be motivation as they should pay for this kind of extra work, in machinery and workforce. I don’t think they would do this out of boredom.
When, think: post office arranges equipment for invisible postmarking, and uses special ink to that.
In addition they need equipment to detect these from all the mail. Do they postmark every item with invisible ink, or selected ones, and how are the ones selected? Then, to find the possible reuse, they should check all mail with postage stamps, to find if someone has put a already used stamp? Why all this, when they could only use the traditional visible ink, to prevent the reuse. I still think it’s urban legend.
(With this I don’t mean to encourage to reuse stamps.)
Edit. now I tested this. The neon orange barcodes are better visible with UV light, but nothing more, no extra invisible marks in postage stamps received from Finland, The Netherlands, Canada, USA, UK or Spain (but how many clear postage stamps 
).
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