2007 1¢ AUTOMATED POSTAL CENTER "EXPRESS MAIL" STAMP - US SCOTT #CVP63aThank you buyders for following my postal products. Here is another neat item for your collection album. You are looking on one (1) mint 2007 1¢ Automated Postal Center "Express Mail" Stamp. Here is a neat "stamp" you do not see everyday. It is an express mail stamp addressed to Beverly Hills 90210 with a $0.01 face value. It measures 4" x 5¼" and is in MNH (Mint Never Hinged) condition and is still on its original backing. In 2004 the United States Postal Service (USPS) introduced the Self Service Platform (SSP) or Automated Postal Center (APC) nationwide. The intent of these debit/credit card kiosk machines was to reduce labor required to service postal counters. Designed from ATM technology modified to weigh items and print/dispense stamps. Plus they can look up zip-codes and provide some Postal Service/mailing information. The printers were made by Pitney Bowes and are networked to the IBM retail point-of-sale back-end system for transaction handling. It prints to order postage stamps with face values anywhere from $0.01 to $99.99. The APC stamps do not expire and are valid for postage from any US mailing location. The stamps have a generic look with a large indicia (IBI) on the left side and no vignette. They are printed on a horizontal 1-5/8" x 1" (or ~42 x 26 mm.) sticker die-cut on a 3-5/16" x 1-7/8" (~90 x 40 mm.) label. The right side notes "U.S. POSTAGE"; "$0.39"; zip code of machine location; "Date of Sale"; followed with the date purchased and finally by two lines of letters/numbers. A pink strip borders the right side of the stamp. The machines proved to be a quick, easy and convenient alternative to long lines and gave the added convenience of 24/7 shipping from some locations. By summer 2004, about 2500 APC’s were in operation across the nation. In November of 2004 the letters "APC" where added vertically near/on the pink strip and the format was changed slightly. At the same time, printing options changed to allow only single stamp printing and 39¢ booklets of 18 stamps. The machines also introduced a Minimum Postage Fee and lower values could no longer be printed as desired. Although, stamps can be printed in any denomination needed if the machine thinks the item is already stamped, but just needs more postage and it is not your first stamp printed in the ticket. While time consuming, savvy collector have used this feature to create low value sets. Be sure to add me to your favorites list! FREE US shipping. Elsewhere $1.00. I only accept Pay Pal as payment. To view more sport card products click the store link, which will show you my store categories. There you will find "Stamps." Thank you for your interest.
