Introduction to Machine-Vended Postage Labels

Stamps.Net is pleased to introduce a special column by Nahum Shereshevsky devoted to some of philately's most interesting new specialties.
Nahum lives in Israel, and was born there in 1961. He's a system analyst by profession. His main philatelic interest is thematics, and was a co-founder of the Thematic Association of Israel in 1990, serving as a Board member ever since. For four years he was also a Board member of the Israel Philatelic Federation. Nahum's main collection is heraldry, and he exhibit its and was qualified for international level. He also collects, at different levels: ATM labels, joint issues, cats & felines.

Machine-Vended Postage Labels are postage labels that are produced by automatic machines, by imprinting a denomination (chosen by the customer) on a special paper. They are used to frank mail just like regular stamps, a fact that was recognised by the UPU at its 1984 congress in Hamburg. Different countries and languages use different terms for these items. A widely used term is the German ATM (Automatmarken). I will use in this article the terms "ATM labels" and "ATM machines".

It is important to distinguish between ATM labels and postage labels that are produced at the post office counter from computerised workstations. Generally speaking, the former are more like stamps (can be used at any time and have to be postmarked) and the latter are like meter cancellations (they include the time and place and must be put on specific items presented for immediate dispatch at the counter).

ATM machines are the natural successors of the vending machines that sell stamps in coils or booklets. These machines have been invented over a century ago to give the public better service. The innovation of the ATM machines is the micro-processor control and the printing mechanism that allow the creation of the label on the spot with any desired denomination (within a pre-programmed range) rather than being limited to existing stamps.

There are a number of ATM machines in use around the world, but two of them are the most common: the Swiss Frama and the German Klü ssendorf.

Frama is an old firm that makes franking machines. They were the first to develop an ATM machine that was put into use in Switzerland in 1976. The older type produce 33 x 40 cm labels, printed in red. The printing head has a fixed cliché with the country's name and a design, and in some countries a machine identification (number and/or place name). The denomination is printed by four digit wheels. Since the design is on the cliché , the paper usually has a wallpaper background or is blank.

The new type produce 33 x 40 mm labels, printed in black. There is no cliché , only digit wheels. The colourful paper is a result of co-operation between Frama and Courvoisier, the well-known Swiss stamp printer.

It is important to clarify that when we talk about "paper" referring to ATM labels we mean the paper roll as it is put into the machine, including the background design printed on it and physical characteristics (like phosphor). That is different from stamps where "different paper" reefers only to physical characteristics such as watermark, granite paper, colour etc.

The Klü ssendorf machines were first used in Germany in 1981. They produce 43 x 26 mm labels, printed in black. The feeding mechanism uses tractors and the paper roll has holes in it, resulting in each label having two semi-circles along the horizontal edges. The printing head includes only digit wheels (which have also * characters, used as leading zeroes) and an optional machine identification number. The design is on the paper only.

Most of the other ATM machines produce self-adhesive labels, which sometimes can be confused with the "meter type" counter-produced label mentioned earlier. France is the best example - they have been using three types of machines (Crouzet, Sercem DIVA, Moné tel LISA) that use the same paper as the counter machines. The printout is very similar, and the best way to distinguish is to apply the "no date" rule.

These two French labels are printed on the same paper, but only the bottom one is an ATM label - it has a denomination only and it was postmarked. The upper one is a meter type label for immediate dispatch, having the time and place of posting.

The United States experimented twice with ATM labels. The first labels were produced by self-service user-interactive mailing system machines that were installed in the Washington, DC area in 1989. They were printed on blank self-adhesive paper and included also the date of printing, weight of the item and type of service. They could be used at any time like regular stamps, which qualify them as ATM labels rather than counter labels.

The second type machines, installed in 1992, print the denomination only on bicolour coil labels (perforated horizontally).

Portugal has used more machines than any other country, starting in 1981. Shown here (from top-left, clockwise): Frama, Monetel, Olivetti-Klü ssendorf

ATM labels became a collecting area of its own, offering a wide range of specialisation levels. You can have a world-wide collection aiming at getting an example of every design from each country, or you can choose one country and look for varieties, errors, usages on covers, even maximum cards. The real fun is with countries where the machines have identification numbers - the combinations of papers and machines are plenty and some are scarce. Since, in most countries, the post office does not supply labels from specific machines nor announces new machine installations or changes of machine ID's (due to operational reasons), the collectors have to rely on each other or on dealers.

Varieties and errors can be related to the paper, to the label producing process, or a combination of both.

Varieties are usually paper-related and are similar to stamps varieties: shades of the design, phosphor, gum, constant plate flaws. These are rather common, as ATM paper is usually printed more than once (like definitive stamps) and the quality control is sometimes not so strict.

Errors usually refer to "freak" labels produced as a result of a machine malfunction. Some examples: producing a value outside the defined range (either a software error or stuck denomination wheels); multiple printing and partial printing (one loose label gets stuck between the printing head and the paper roll); joined or mis-cut labels (wrong part of the paper roll gets under the guillotine); printing on the gum side (paper roll inserted the wrong way. Can genuinely happen with blank papers). Errors can also be a result of putting the wrong roll of paper in the wrong machine, resulting in a paper-machine combination that was not suppose to be. (By machine I mean machine ID). Needless to say that this is what collectors are looking for - sometimes even "helping" the machines to produce errors!

ATM labels can be collected in a postal history approach: looking for commercial covers with different rates. In most countries the philatelic service offers sets of 3-4 labels in the most common postage rates. Each time the rates change new sets are introduced. In Australia they are known as "button sets" because the first Frama machines used there did not have a keyboard that allows entering any amount, but three buttons with pre-set values. A fourth button caused the printing of a label in the amount still in the machine.

Thematic collectors can use the design of the label (paper and printout) and also the machine ID where it is a place name. As in stamps, there are "definitive" labels and "commemorative" labels that are used in specific places for a limited time (stamp exhibitions are the most common).

Hong Kong completed in 1998 the Chinese calendar cycle, using each year Frama labels with the appropriate animal in the cliché . In Australia the paper is changed every rate changed - and sometimes before... Collectors there talk about "Possum paper", "Lizard paper". In addition there are machines at exhibitions with special cliché s. Finland and Å land use special paper in their Frama machines around Christmas. Israel has been producing Christmas KlÜ ssendoef labels since 1992. They were used in a machine installed at Bethlehem, and since 1995 at Nazareth. Browsing in my album I found also buildings, ships, children's toys, mail coaches and cars, coat of arms, landscapes, ship figureheads, more animals and plenty of posthorns.

Maximaphily collectors get their share too. Since ATM labels are considered stamps and can be postmarked, they can be used for maximum cards. This is stated in the new version of the FIP Guidelines for Judging Maximaphily Exhibits. These Guidelines and examples of ATM maximum cards can be seen at the Maximaphily Group of Israel site, (look for Davids's Tower, Haifa, Christmas and Archeological Sites in Cards Gallery 1)

The attitude of the major world catalogues towards ATM is related to their presence (hence, collecting interest) in the relevant philatelic culture.

Michel and Yvert et Telliers list ATM labels in a separate section. Michel also issues a specialised ATM catalogue (Automatmarken-Spezial-Katalog). Scott lists the US issues under "Computer Vended Postage" and ignores other countries' labels. Stanley Gibbons mentions the country's first ATM issue in its British Commonwealth Catalogue but not in the simplified "stamps of the world".

Collecting interest in ATM is centred in Europe, especially in Germany. It follows that most of the ATM groups are in Europe and their publications and activities are not in English. The only English-speaking country with wide ATM interest is Australia.

Searching the Net I found a large Swiss site with a lot of updated information, but in German: www.atms.ch/