Some More 21st Century Cancels

A few years ago (January 2011) on this blog I illustrated cancels from the 2 contract postal stations in Plattsburgh, NY.  Both are operated by local banks. The clerks are actually tellers that work for the bank. Clerks are any contract stations cannot be employees of the USPS.

This summer I stopped by the stations again to see what new cancels they might have.  At one of the stations, the teller gave me the canceling device and allowed me to service my own covers.

However at the other station, the teller said she couldn't do it since the envelopes weren't addressed and wouldn't be going into the mail stream.  She said I might use the envelopes for backdating documents I wanted to mail.  I explained to her what I was doing and that I have done this at many other post offices in the past.  But she stood her ground.  Finally, she said she would call the main Plattsburgh post office and get their advice, which, of course, was "go ahead and do it.  It's OK."

One of the "joys" of pursuing cancels.

Champlain National Bank Contract Station:

Glens Falls National Bank Contract Station:

Notice that the cancel have different ZIP CODE since they are located in different sections of the city.  12901 is for the city of Plattsburgh.  12903 was formerly used by the Plattsburgh Air Force Base branch office until the base closed in the mid 1990s.  Since the Glens Falls National Bank office is located in the same area of the city as the old Air Force base the 12903 Zip was assigned to it.