Post Office Vent

thevegetariana

So I had one invitation that I needed to mail out early because my friend will be leaving for Afghanistan right around the time we send our invites out.  I painstakingly wrote our the addresses very nicely on the envelope and did a wax seal on the back.  I went to the Apex post office, bought the 65 cent stamp so it would not go through the machine. And then the guy stamps a big huge red NON-MACHINEABLE stamp haphazardly across the envelope. I didn't say anything but I died a little on the inside.

He told me that I need to write non-machineable in red on all the rest before I bring them in because it would take too long to stamp them. How do I avoid this? I guess I had just heard about everyone hand cancelling them and I thought that was what I was asking for but I hadn't heard about this ugly stamp! Is this every post office?

(I completely realize this is ridiculous and I am trying to calm down by telling myself it was only one invitation! Just needed to vent!)

lacey3eb

That does not sound right at all.  I think you can ask to hand cancel them and they will give you a stamp to use for that and you stamp them there at the post office.  I don't see any need to write non-machinable on any of them if you are hand canceling them, but maybe something has changed.

pirategal03

The best I can figure from people coming to share their experiences is that every post office employee handles this a little differently.  You may have better luck at a different location, or on a different day.  

NcsuPsych

I've never heard of using the huge stamp. I'd call and ask the post office and see if that's normal or if theres something else you could do to save your invites.

I'm sorry that happened

thevegetariana

Thanks girls. I will definitely ask more questions next time before I hand over my stack of invites. I'm glad that isn't the norm. It also helps that it was a single guy friend that will be receiving the invite and he probably won't even notice. You gals and a glass of wine make everything okay.

SCogs18

OMG I would be so mad!  It took me hours to address my save the dates and I would be so upset if the post office ruined them like that!

I was peeved when the post office had to print ugly international paid stamp label things for my two Europe-bound invitations (because postage just increased and they didn't have new international stamps yet).

MyUserName1

Ugh, that is so frustrating.  

Maybe try to get a female employee the next time.  If you come in super sweet and not crazed bride, a female will be much more understanding of that sort of thing than a guy!

tarheelbabs

I had challenging envelopes, too. In the Raleigh area, the New Bern office downtown has a good reputation, I used Crabtree, and they were very helpful, but they're closed now. And, I went to two places and neither of them seemed prepared to let me hand cancel anything. We all probably read about that from the same sources, but it seems to be an urban legend.

kelsey+brandon

What exactly is had canceling?

tarheelbabs

Canceling them yourself, rather than running them through the machine. That way they won't get torn up.