Hand Cancelling

Tisha.

Well, I handed my invites over to the USPS today.  I decided to not go with hand cancelling... and I hope I don't end up regretting it.

I'm totally scared now.  My cousin who is getting married on October 2nd just told me that 7 people still haven't received her invites, and she sent them a month ago! 

I spoke with 5 different post offices about hand cancelling.  Two of them refuse to do it at all.  Two others said that they will do it, but that the invites would still go through the stamp cancelling machine anyway.  The fifth one, the downtown (Center City or something like that) post office, was actually the nicest and msot helpful.  He explained to me why it wouldn't matter if I had them hand cancelled.  He said that with all of the machines they have now, there's no way to keep them seperate, and that they would indeed go through the machine anyway.

But, because he was so nice and actually took time to explain things to me, and was pleasant about it, that's where I took them and that's probably where I will take all of my mail from now on.

So, for any of you (especially if you live in Oklahoma City, apparently) who haven't sent invites yet and are wondering about hand cancelling, be sure to ask if they will go through the machine anyway.

lmf2010

I took mine to the main Norman Post Office on Gray Street.  I went one day and the guy I spoke with told me if I came back the same time the next day he would personally do it for me.  He said they don't do it routinely, but only do it if it's not busy, as a courtesy.  He assured me that this would keep them from going through the machines.

I couldn't go back at the same time, so I went at 8am on a Friday morning and a different man helped me.  I told him what I was wanting to do, and told him I was more than willing to hand cancel them myself if he didn't have time.  He asked how many, and said he would take care of it himself.  He also assured me they would not go through the machines.

I only spot checked with a few family members, and the furthest one was Atlanta, GA, and his arrived without a single machine mark on it!  

All the invites of friends of mine from the Norman post office that have hand cancelled have arrived with no markings as well.

I highly recommend the Norman post office on Gray Street!  Both men were very nice.

One question though... why are you worried that not hand cancelling would cause your invites to run late?

Hope this info helps other brides! and Good Luck!

Tisha.

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_oklahoma_hand-cancelling?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:127Discussion:8f10524c-51f5-45a0-bed8-486bd5a7b646Post:cf1563b3-4124-44a0-91fc-be39373bbe61">Re: Hand Cancelling</a>:
[QUOTE]One question though... why are you worried that not hand cancelling would cause your invites to run late? Hope this info helps other brides! and Good Luck!
Posted by lmf2010[/QUOTE]

I wasn't worried that not hand cancelling would make them run late.  I just hate the USPS in general, so was worried in general.  lol

Most of the guests got theirs yesterday.  All the ones delivered to the city were fine.  The ones delivered to Altus were a little rough, but nothing horrible.  The altus ones DID have that ugly sticker bar code on the bottom though.  But not the city ones.  Weird.  But oh well.  As long as they get there, I guess that's all that counts now.

lmf2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_oklahoma_hand-cancelling?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:127Discussion:8f10524c-51f5-45a0-bed8-486bd5a7b646Post:c13021cf-f9ec-4b30-af21-36170f83061a">Re: Hand Cancelling</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Hand Cancelling : I wasn't worried that not hand cancelling would make them run late.  I just hate the USPS in general, so was worried in general.  Posted by Tisha.[/QUOTE]

ahhh, I understand.  I hate the USPS in general too! :)  If I could send them UPS for an affordable rate, I would so that I knew they got there!

Tisha.

Me too.  Two years ago, my Christmas cards got completely destroyed.  I mean, REALLY bad.

Keith's mom didn't even get a complete envlope.  Just the front of it.  I'm serious.

And our friends got the envelope we sent, but with a card from someone else in it. 

It was a nightmare.

lmf2010

omg!!!  they actually put another card in the envelope????  how crazy.  I wonder why yours got destroyed.  If it happened to so many I wonder if it happened at the post office you dropped them off at.  USPS sucks!

I sent Christmas care packages 2 years ago with homemade fudge, candy, cookies, etc.  Nothing that would go bad in a week, but it definitely was not meant to stay good for months.  I got lots of calls when people received them, but there was someone from Chicago, Denton, TX, and the Kansas City area that never called to thank me.  Not that I expected it.  In MARCH they came back returned as not deliverable.  I called to double check the addresses, and they were all right.

Tisha.

Yeah, I think it was the post office that they were dropped off at.  My mom's friend had a similar problem at the same post office, so we all just don't go to that one anymore.