Postage stamp machine
From left to right: The first two with a crank handle for roll stamps , the third machine for pulling out stamp booklets and the fourth for modern machine stamps
Postage stamp machines , also called postage stamp machines or postage stamp dispensers, are used for the automated sale of postage stamps - sometimes even postcards - and are usually installed on the outside of post offices or in highly frequented places.
history
New Zealander Robert Dickie is considered one of the inventors . The first postage stamp machine was located in London's main post office in 1893.
While initially coil stamps or booklets were issued (this form has been officially designated as booklets encoder), are since the 1990s, special machines brands in use that are printed directly in the machine. In 1997 there were around 15,000 electronic stamp printers worldwide, 13,000 of which were in Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain alone. Between 1994 and 1997, the number of postal administrations issuing machine stamps increased from 41 to 49. Postage stamp machines do not give change but print stamps with the remaining amount.
The first stamp issuer of the Reichspost for the sale of postage stamps of 5 and 10 Pfennig was set up at the end of 1901 in Berlin at Post Office 66 (Mauerstraße 69-75).
Purely mechanical machines for issuing definitive stamps have existed in Austria since 1908.
The first postage stamp machines were installed in Switzerland in 1911 . Postage stamps for the most common letter postage could be bought for ten cents .
Country specifics
Germany
In 1984 there were 28,038 postage stamp machines operated by the Deutsche Bundespost . Since the introduction of euro cash in 2002, Deutsche Post AG has operated around 6,000 postage stamp machines. Tokens for sending letters, postcards and parcels can be purchased from these. If the coin is not paid exactly to the cent, these do not issue coins, but rather stamps of the corresponding amount as "change". However, there is no loss of money for the customer, since stamps with a freely selectable value can also be acquired at the stamp machines, to which stamps issued as change can be added. The originally possible payment by GeldKarte is no longer possible since January 2015 due to a lack of demand. Postage stamp machines are one of the few machines in Germany that accept all euro and cent coins (including 1 cent coins). A maximum of 15 coins are accepted per payment process. The most expensive value that can be drawn from the machine shown next door is a token for 36.75 euros. The machines contain two rolls of postage stamps with 2,000 blank stamps each. Every fifth stamp has a number (2000 to 0005) on the back in descending order.
Screen information during the roll change
white receipt roll and two ATM rolls
Inserting the ribbon
Insertion of the new ATM roles
white receipt roll and one of two ATM rolls
Checking the pressure test
Due to the steadily decreasing use of these machines due to the increasing use of digital communication channels, as well as increasing repair and maintenance costs, their use in Germany is declining: their "time is running out". For 1987, the Bundespost stated almost 30,000 machine locations, in 2002 there were only around 6,000. This is also clear in Berlin, where, according to the website, there are postage stamp machines on almost every second street corner, but these have the note “temporarily out of order”. According to the press spokeswoman for Deutsche Post, “the use and utilization of the devices were checked. It was found that use has decreased significantly at many locations ”. Devices are usually only set up in or in front of larger post offices, where shopping outside of opening times should be possible.
Austria
In addition to the machines, stamps can be purchased in tobacconists , so the need for machines was lower than in Germany, for example. Postage stamp machines (manufacturer: Theodor Braun, Automatenbau, Vienna) were taken out of service in the course of the changeover to the euro. There were three types of postage stamp machines:
- Roll brand machines : there have been no new roll brand machines for several decades, so in 2002 almost all of them were dismantled.
- “Pocket machines” gave out plastic bags with loose postage stamps in them, valued at around 10 schillings, which were poorly received.
- Frama coin stamp printers: met the interest of philatelists , but were prone to failure and sometimes out of service for months.
Newer machines for machine brands are available in the post office 1010 Vienna (Fleischmarkt 19), special post office 1210 Vienna (Steinheilgasse 1), as well as at "Phila Punkt" at 76 locations.
Switzerland
After France, Switzerland was the second country to introduce the machine postage stamp on August 9, 1976. At the peak, over 700 machines were set up. As the number of machines was gradually reduced, the turnover achieved with the mechanized issuing of stamps decreased. Swiss Post highlighted the latter as a decisive argument when the service was finally abolished in May 2011. Other reasons for the decision were new distribution channels (webstamp) and a feared shortage of spare parts for the "technology from the 1970s". In 2013, the trial phase with the SMS postage stamp was started as a supplement to Webstamp , which in turn was finally introduced on September 1, 2014.
See also
Historical machine for postcards. Has been converted into a mailbox and used in the Netherlands
Postage stamp machine in Japan
British postage stamp machine from before 1971
literature
- Handheld dictionary of postal services
- Hans-Jürgen Tast writing adventures. Letters, travel, machines (Schellerten 2008), ISBN 978-3-88842-038-2
- InfoBrief: ATM. A googly eyes information service (Schellerten), ISSN 0933-1409 (since October 1984)
- The stamp issue No. 7/2007, p. 46
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinz-Dieter Haustein: Weltchronik des Messens: Universal history of measure and number, money and weight . Page 287, Verlag Walter deGruyter, Berlin-New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017173-2 > limited preview in the Google book search.
- ↑ MICHEL machine brands special catalog 1997
- ↑ Handwortbuch des Postwesens , Ed. Federal Ministry for the Post and Telecommunications , 2nd completely revised edition, Frankfurt am Main, 1953, p. 586.
- ↑ Our Post: Information folder 2 , published by Deutsche Bundespost, as of 01/1984.
- ↑ "With the currency changeover, the postage stamp machines of the Austrian Post will be withdrawn from circulation. Up to now there have been three types of machines in Austria: roll stamp machines, pocket machines and Frama coin stamp printers. "In: NZZ of February 8, 2002: Neue Zürcher Zeitung End of machine brands in Austria ( Memento of June 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Internet news 2016
- ↑ The end of the postage stamp machines in Switzerland on February 2, 2011 on tagesanzeiger.ch
- ↑ Switzerland without postage stamp machines ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. posttip.de as of February 3, 2011
- ↑ Welcome to the office cubicle, goodbye to the stamp machine - the rise and fall of public communication furniture , in Neue Zürcher Zeitung , as of February 12, 2011
- ^ Swiss postage stamp machines in retirement, philately - The magazine of the Association of German Philatelists, 63rd year, issue 405, March 2011, p. 10
- ↑ Tages-Anzeiger: Swiss Post is testing the SMS postage stamp
- ↑ Thurgauer Zeitung: Popular SMS stamp remains ( memento of the original from March 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
