Special Inks and Pads for FDC Cancellations

In the Sept. 28 issue of Linn's Stamp News, Lloyd deVries reports in his Modern FDCs column that some collectors attending first-day ceremonies bring their own special ink and stamp pads and ask to cancel their own covers.

In his article, Cheap Ink and Inexperienced Clerks Result in Poor Cancels, Lloyd points out that USPS Cancellation Services in Kansas City sends first-day cities a kit with the rubber postmarking devices along with instructions on the type of ink and stamp pads to buy.

He pens, "...even if Cancellation Services sends the best ink and stamp pads to a first-day city, there is no guarantee the the results will be satisfactory."

According to Lloyd, "The clerks who apply cancellations at first-day events rarely spend much of their normal workday postmarking covers. Some are temporary workers hired just for the ceremonies. Others are full-time postal workers pulled from other duties."

He also says that more often than not Cancellation Services in Kansas City will provide cleaner and sharper cancellations than you would normally get at the cermony itself.

Shown above, Kathy Clements of the American First Day Cover Society's Claude C. Ries Chapter #48 uses a special brown ink and pad to cancel covers and other items at the Gary Cooper stamp first-day ceremonies in Los Angeles.

For more on FDC cancellations, click here.