Effective with the Jack O’Lanterns issue at the end of September, all FDC servicing requests will be sent to USPS Cancellation Services in Kansas City, not the first-day cities.
This is a change that veteran FDC servicers have been requesting for years, because “helpful” local clerks often miscancel or damage FDCs.
There has not yet been an official announcement from the USPS, other than giving Kansas City as the servicing address for the latest issues in the Postal Bulletin.
Updated:
A longer article on this was published in Linn’s Stamp News. Click here to read it.
Regarding the new rule that future F.D.C. (first day cancel) will be handle by the central location Cancellation service in Kansas City instead of the local clerks. While I admire the dedication for quality product of F.D.C.; I will miss the thrill that my cover traveled to the local city. I will miss the joy that the local U.S. post office had to hire a few more temporary clerks and stimulate the economy. Finally, if the local clerk does make a mistake on F.D.C. I will take the “mistake ” with a grain of salt. Often philatellic “mistakes” become unique and potential valuable historical items.
Keep in mind that the local post offices weren’t supposed to be servicing mail-in requests before this (before Jack O’Lanterns). They were supposed to repackage the mail-ins and send them to KC for servicing….so no additional temporary clerks other than at the first-day ceremony, and that’s not changing.
Just no. Part of the hobby was mailing the cover off to a place you had never been and never would be. Not like the people in Kansas City never mess one up in cancellation anyway.
I am totally in favor of this new procedure. It does not matter to me at all whether my covers land in the city of issue for a few minutes. And, yes, Kansas City does make mistakes with cancellations, but these are always corrected in a timely manner, and it happens very seldom. Stop whining and be thankful for this service which is provided to you by the UISPS.
I also am in favor of this new procedure. It also helps to explain why I’m in favor of the nationwide release of new issues, I can get the new stamp at one of my local post offices, and get it canceled with a “real” first day cancel. Don’t get me wrong, I like the official FDOI cancels, I have lots, but there is a grace period, and unless you’re at the ceremony site, the official cancel is not a first day cancel, it’s a note telling me when the stamp was issued. The local counter stamp can only be used on the one day, there’s no backstamping. (Sending it through the mails also works, but the spray-on cancel is usually illegible.)
Most stamps can be canceled first day with justifiable relevance at your local office, with of course, the usual exceptions, the new JFK stamp was issued on a federal holiday, and as I’m not in Nebraska, I’ll send off for those.