Sunday, September 20, 2009

Finland personalised stamp and French postal cautiousness?

Finnish people, Posti and Postcrossing eventually constitute an innovating team. Last morning surprise: yesterday Saturday 19 with the arrival of a card whose message was dated Wednesday 16 September 2009.

The first class stamp (0.80 euro usable depending weight for the interior and the European rates) is thin and plastified. It seems autoadhesive, like most of the stamps of Finland.

The 3.2 × 2.4 centimeter illustration is very small inside the 4,2 × 3,9 stamp from tooth to tooth. And it has got a date and an hour of the photograph being taken: "22/08/2009 15:23".

All appearances of a personalised stamp. Google Images helps find two another examples: one like this train stamp and another on a blog in March 2009 with an elliptical perforation à la Royal Mail. This second model can be seen on the official site of the Omakuva service, a Finnish word for self portrait. To know more would request better Finnish translation or to register the webshop.

A proof of validity can be distinguished under day light: the stamp surface has got many rounded points that a sorting machine can see.


Now, why did I speak of "French postal cautiousness"? There are two things missing on this postcard. Yet, it arrived in three days. By experience that quite efficient and usual between Finland and France.

No cancellation in Finland. Already seen and always in debate: simple error? Economy of ink? Respect of the illustration? A Finnish reader suggested his hypothesis: the place of posting can play, either a post office counter or a mail box.

No French salmon barcodes printed in a French mail center to direct the card to final destination. A machine at the arrival center may not have appreciated the personalised stamp and the lack of cancellation. The human checking let it through: known case? Benefit of the doubt? [plus the bad social context inside La Poste's mail centers] Certainly, put by hand in the bag to Montpellier. May this story happen again in one of Montpellier centers where the card finished by hand in the good box then the good postman race?


Too much questions from a so railway-cute holiday souvenir.

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