So, I sent a sample invitation to my mom from the post office near myh house in Irvine -- I watched the postal worker hand cancel it -- but when my mom got it, it was all messed up.
So today, I went back to the local post office to mail off the rest of my invitations and I asked if they could be hand-canceled -- they said no. I explained about sending the ivitation earlier in the week and they said that on occasion they will "hand-cancel" small orders, but that they actually do go through the machines anyway.
Then, they told me to go to the post office in Santa Ana -- where all my invites could be hand-cancelled and not go through the machines. The explanation was that only the main post office for an area can do true hand-cancelling. All the other post offices have to run them through the machines -- even if they were"hand-cancelled".
So, OC brides, make sure to double check that the post office you are using does true hand cancelling! I dropped mine off in Santa Ana today (the one on Sunflower)! Yeah!
Update: Invites that went "local" seemed to have no problems, no ugly black marks or other issues. However, I still got "complaints" about messed up envelopes in Temecula and out of state. Oh well, I guess that's why there is an inner and outer envelope. Good luck to all!
my mom works in a post office on El Toro Road (in a pharmacy, not the US POst Office) and I will call her and ask if she does that. I'm pretty sure they do-they're very small. I'll get back to you!
So I got the rundown on hand cancelling--i think. My mom said that her post office (which is inside a pharmacy) doesn't have a machine, so they either send it to the post office to be canceled or cancel it themselves. She just hand canceled a set of invites. She agreed that the P.O. is typically too busy, and even though you can request it, there's no way to confirm that it is done. Perhaps trying a post office depot in a store rather than an actual US POst office will work because the employees will have more time and since they don't have a machine, only the stamp, they'd be willing to do that for you there. Worth a try!
But as a warning, it's very typical that only envelopes sent locally will arrive with the hand canceled seal and no barcodes or other machine marks. Mail that is shipped away from the area's central post office to other distribution centers will be put through machines regardless of a request to hand cancel at the point of origin.
In other words, it might have the hand cancel mark over the stamps, but it's going to get machine cancelled in sorting at some point along the way anyhow.
So, I sent a sample invitation to my mom from the post office near myh house in Irvine -- I watched the postal worker hand cancel it -- but when my mom got it, it was all messed up.
So today, I went back to the local post office to mail off the rest of my invitations and I asked if they could be hand-canceled -- they said no. I explained about sending the ivitation earlier in the week and they said that on occasion they will "hand-cancel" small orders, but that they actually do go through the machines anyway.
Then, they told me to go to the post office in Santa Ana -- where all my invites could be hand-cancelled and not go through the machines. The explanation was that only the main post office for an area can do true hand-cancelling. All the other post offices have to run them through the machines -- even if they were"hand-cancelled".
So, OC brides, make sure to double check that the post office you are using does true hand cancelling! I dropped mine off in Santa Ana today (the one on Sunflower)! Yeah!
posted by caliocteach 720 posts 6 months agoUpdate: Invites that went "local" seemed to have no problems, no ugly black marks or other issues. However, I still got "complaints" about messed up envelopes in Temecula and out of state. Oh well, I guess that's why there is an inner and outer envelope. Good luck to all!
posted by caliocteach 720 posts 6 months agoI moved this post into the OC board, and deleted the other one :-).
posted by mrbee 135 posts 6 months agoOk, I may be a complete dork with asking, but what is "hand-cancelled?"
posted by Lillindy 280 posts 6 months agoI was just going to ask the same quesiton Lillindy
posted by NorCalBride 307 posts 6 months agoHere's a post by Mrs. Spider on hand cancelling:
- http://www.weddingbee.com/2006/08/05/wait-a-minute-mr-postman/
posted by mrbee 135 posts 6 months agooh thanks for letting us know which post office actually does this!
posted by karieck05 99 posts 6 months agoHi ladies,
my mom works in a post office on El Toro Road (in a pharmacy, not the US POst Office) and I will call her and ask if she does that. I'm pretty sure they do-they're very small. I'll get back to you!
posted by FutureMrsOskins 50 posts 6 months agoHi,
So I got the rundown on hand cancelling--i think. My mom said that her post office (which is inside a pharmacy) doesn't have a machine, so they either send it to the post office to be canceled or cancel it themselves. She just hand canceled a set of invites. She agreed that the P.O. is typically too busy, and even though you can request it, there's no way to confirm that it is done. Perhaps trying a post office depot in a store rather than an actual US POst office will work because the employees will have more time and since they don't have a machine, only the stamp, they'd be willing to do that for you there. Worth a try!
posted by FutureMrsOskins 50 posts 6 months agodoes anyone know if they always charge extra to hand cancel, they are quoting me 0.50 per invitation to hand cancel.
posted by kimimats 3 posts 4 months agoHi, I hand-cancelled my invites with no problem at the Tustin Post Office on 340 E 1st St, Tustin, CA.
posted by sweetdaisey 8 posts 3 months agoThey should not charge extra to hand cancel.
But as a warning, it's very typical that only envelopes sent locally will arrive with the hand canceled seal and no barcodes or other machine marks. Mail that is shipped away from the area's central post office to other distribution centers will be put through machines regardless of a request to hand cancel at the point of origin.
In other words, it might have the hand cancel mark over the stamps, but it's going to get machine cancelled in sorting at some point along the way anyhow.
posted by cherrypie 73 posts 3 months ago