I've seen posts before that said they think their post office didn't postmark their books until way after they mailed them--well, I'm confirming that it is indeed possible.  I marked a book mailed on October 14th, and it was received on October 29th.  I got an auto-message from PBS saying that although I marked the book mailed on 10/14, it was actually postmarked 10/25.  This annoys me no end because I NEVER mark a book mailed until it's in the mailbox, in fact, sometimes I don't mark it mailed until the day after I drop it in.  I know that one late postmark will not affect my account but it's especially irksome to me since I am so careful about mailing dates.  So, when we get books with late postmarks at least a few of them may be the fault of the PO.

That is why I purchase my postage at the Post Office...it has the computer generated date...

Thanks for sharing. I mail books from home due to health issues and I can't make it to the post office. But I NEVER mark it mailed until after it is in the mailbox.

I just remembered though this did happen with something my mom mailed me. She once mailed something to use and told us that day she mailed it. I think is was a holiday or something. It was a date that was easy to remember, maybe someones birthday. (I'm very forgetful but I did remember the exact date she mailed it for some reason. lol) Anyway, it usually takes a few days since we live in the same state.

It took about 3wks for the letter to get to us. It was a gift card to my husband. We waited & waited. My mom wondered if she did mail it and I told her I knew for sure she did on a certain date. We finally got it & the post mark date was like 3 days BEFORE it arrived.

It was very weird. I knew my mom didn't lie about it though since she was very worried. The gift card was I think $25 but still you don't want to lose something like that.

Yes, I can testify to that as well.!  I've had several situations with our PO with mail coming from Dallas, TX.  One year my mom sent everyone Christmas checks - in separate envelopes - 5 different envelopes.  But they weren't obvious as to being cards with money!  A month later in Jan.  they still hadn't arrived and my mom put a stop payment in.  A search was instituted but the mail never found.  The checks were never cashed or attempted to be cashed.  So it's a mystery - but not the first and not the last between my mom, the USPS, and me!  It's amazing how long - and how short the mail can be sometimes.  They did have a case where they had busted some USPS employees at the regional distribution mail center for opening "card" sized mail and getting money, gift cards, etc.  So now, my mom mails EVERYTHING in 10'X13" envelopes!  And one time I had mailed out 6 books to a person and they never showed up (I did use PBS postage and DC).  It just never got scanned in - for weeks.   Finally PBS declared them lost.  The requester was really ticked off, but there was nothing I could do about it.   Then she decided to reorder those books, and then my books showed up  after her second order of the same books  were mailed to her!   She was really ticked off after that and I'm sure she will make sure never to order from me again just on principal.  I think the USPS "gods" are crazy!

Ruth

when we find them on letters and packages in the mail stream. To show cancellation of the stamps and to prevent reuse.

This can be a postmark date, or black lines from an ink stamp bar on the manual case or even a marker or pen across the stamps.

That's also why when someone uses a bunch of stamps on a package you should see the window clerk go spastic with their round dater :)

Many stamps still don't get "cancelled" per the guidelines, especially when yo udrop a paperback into a collection box.

Kevin