From February 2021, all new German stamp editions receive an individual matrix code (DataMatrix). So, each stamp have a unique individual identifier.
This is intended to:
a) Prevent counterfeit production and fraudulent multiple use;
b) Allow shipment recording and control and tracking;
c) Provide philatelists and interested customers detailed background information about the stamps.
Apparently, it also means that cancellation is not longer necessary. However, you see that these stamps have been cancelled...
Do you like the idea of the code?
PS If you are very interested, you can read here a forum thread about this matter.
The code is an odd thing! Must be better we suppose, because it is new. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it's better... But it's here.
DeleteHappy New Year to you, too!
I like the blue cancel but not a fan of the data-matrix, maybe I'll get used to it. Love the stamp with cloud and rainbow over the barn.
ReplyDeleteI think it is not bad as far as it is a real stamp, and not just a dull label.
DeleteVery nice selection.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of the codes, however I guess they'll be here to stay. I think the worst example is on La Poste's definitive overseas stamp.
No, the worst example is Spanish dull labels (sheet-size). Like this one!
DeleteI'm still annoyed that our cancels don't include the city/town where the card was mailed (at least not in the Greater Toronto Area) and that has been for several years already. So... I am not a fan of the codes. Thank you for the explanation.
ReplyDeleteI do love that top sky view.
Our international mail shows the big cancellation centre, but not exactly the city where you post the letter. It happens the same with mail from the UK.
DeleteThe sky stamp features a very beautiful picture!
I think I might be in favour if the code was readable by the public, but I am expecting Royal Mail will keep it secret and we users will not be able to tell where a stamp was used and when, or even whether it has been used at all. I read that here the stamps must still be cancelled but the cancellation must not cover the code, which seems very impractical.
ReplyDeleteI think there is an app created by Deutsche Post for the public read the code. If the stamp is not cancellated, that would be the only way to say if the letter has travelled.
DeleteI don't think Royal Mail pays attention to cancellation... A lot of stamps arrive ruined by a dreadful sharpie pen.
De mémoire le seul QRCODE vu en France est celui du timbre international violet et bien sur les vignettes émises en ligne ,en tout cas je n'aime pas cela dénature le timbre !
ReplyDeleteIl semble que c'est le future :|
DeleteI am not a fan of this code, as I prefer real postmarks. But if it prevents a stamp from being pen-canceled, then I see some advantage of it. But then also we need a way to see the date on this mail. E.g. when seeing old mail - like for instance recently found 90 years old postcards my late grandfather sent to my late greatgrandmother - sometimes only the postmark gives a clue about the year the mail was sent.
ReplyDeleteAn other disadvantage is that this way many data are collected about who is sending what to whom. With the present governments I expect not much problems, when it is mail from just friends to just friends. But in a surveillance state we can get into trouble, even if our friends are innocent in any way. For instance, recently I saw a documentary about the DDR, which was eye-opening. And nowadays in certain countries - both outside and inside of Europe - people aren't that free. Their digital lives monitored and controlled, but also mail can be controlled, with self-censorship as a result. Speaking for myself, I wouldn't dare to send an envelope, made of a photo of an art work by a 'dissident', exiled artist, to mail friends in the country the artist had been ran away from.
The steps-to-be-taken to contribute to a state surveillance are made easier with such a stamp code..
Though much happens now with snail mail, too. See some examples of snail mail surveillance here: https://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/big-brother-is-watching-us . In the first (on the website: last) post from July 2013, a newspaper article says that in the US all envelopes and postcards are photographed for the authorities...
I am curious to know what you all think about that (you can reply in snail mail, inside of an envelope :-) )
I prefer, in general, the "real" stamps. I understand the advantage of the codes, of course. But they don't add charm to the mail as stamps do!
DeleteAnd yes, I will elaborate my reply via snail mail :)
DeleteYour snail mail arrived in my mailbox yesterday, thank you so much!
DeleteSurely very interesting to read (and I learned two new words, even had to look them up in the (online) dictionary :-)
I’ll reply in, er, snail mail?! :-)
:D
Delete