Comments on: German Morgenpost stamps

By: Keijo

Keijo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:21:26 +0000

Hi Tim,

barcode label was on the back of the cover. And yes, it had inscription “Sprng”.

By: T-M

T-M — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:27:21 +0000

Sorry for commenting again, but wasn’t there a barcode label on the cover? Morgenpost usualy puts a barcodelabel on their mail (with the same barcode as on the stamp) that also indicates the partner to which the letter is forwarded. For international mail this is “Sprng” (probably for Spring Global Mail). (For domestic mail there are other codes for partners in different regions of Germany. The partner somtiems puts another label with another barcode and another code for the next destination and so on. But every postal service has it’s own regaultions, so there are many differences.)

By: T-M

T-M — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:06:01 +0000

I’m glad to see that you received my cover.

It’s interesting to see the TNT cancellation, which is different to the ones I’ve seen before. Normaly they are blue and include a date, so you can see when the cover has reached the Netherlands.

Not all international mail is sent via the Netherlands, but sometimes also via Belgium, Malta, Great Britain and probably other counties.

Deutsche Post still has some kind of privileges, for example there is no VAT (value added tax) for “official” stamps, but for private post stamps. Deutsche Post also don’t allow the private postal companies to use postmarks which are simillar to these of Deutsche Post or to put up their post boxes near to these of Deutsche Post.

It’s somehow strange that the private postal services still can be cheaper. (But on the other hand, many of them only deliver to some regions, especially urban areas, and some are said to pay their employees very low …) And often smaler services exist only a view years, before they merge with bigger services or go bankrupt.

@ Pablo: Interesting to see, that there are private postal services in other counties, too.

By: Keijo

Keijo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:48:02 +0000

Hi Pablo,

I assume the Argentinian private carrier stamps were valid only in domestic mail?

OCA seems to have a nice online listing of their stamps at http://www.oca.com.ar/filatelia1.asp

By: Pablo (yo)

Pablo (yo) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:07:04 +0000

That’s big problem, open competition vs. national public services.

Here in Argentina there are many private carriers as well, being the bigger ones OCA and Andreani which had issued their own stamps.
But the National Post (a mixed public-private company) claimed that they had been granted a monopoly regarding commemorative stamp issuing, and the private companies had ceased to issue new stamps.

In the link, the fifth cover has been sent by OCA, and has a label that very much resembles a stamp, altough legally it is not.

http://albumdeestampillas.blogspot.com/2009/01/5-formas-de-mandar-una-carta.html