PSA: Hand-cancelling, don't believe the hype!

They may be hand-cancelled, but they still have to be sorted and distributed by belt-fed machines... so not worth the extra expense.

Oh man...I wish you had posted this two weeks ago I definitely stood there and hand-cancelled all my envelopes for like 30 minutes!

Yeah, DH worked for the PO for a year. While some may still hand cancel, all mail has to go through machines to be sorted.

They hand cancelled mine for free. So oh well lol.

Mine were hand cancelled because they were too thick to go through the belts. I ties my invites together with a lace bow. I had to pay extra

One of my best friends is a post master and this has been discussed. She said they basically do it for a bride's peace of mind. As others have stated, everything still goes through a machine.

After she realized she crushed my spirit she offered to do it just to give me peace of mind but I told her don't bother. I'm just glad they're done and I have another huge task off my to do list. Almost immediately went into IDGAF mode lol.

Yeah, I've never understood why anyone thought that by hand cancelling your invitations, they wouldn't go through a machine.

Like, do you have any idea how many millions of pieces of mail go through the postal system per day? If it was all hand sorted, or even a fraction was, it would take weeks to get anything! It's just not realistic.

I mean, it's always nice not having a big smear across the stamp from a machine I guess, but the machines also give people a reason to actually use the inner envelopes for their original purpose, too, which was to protect the invitation and look nice if the outer envelope got dirty or damaged. Funny how some things come full circle.

Why do people do hand cancelling? What is it

Mail is so dirty.

I learned doing my std's that everything goes through the machine regardless. I was so disappointed!

Not to be starting something but...do you know it's over 3 months until your wedding? Is it a destination wedding or something? Why so early for invitations? Just curious since it's about a month earlier than all the suggestions I've seen for even the early side of mailing invitations. I'm just thinking maybe you're getting married abroad or something.

Ok... Don't laugh at me.. But what is hand cancelling?

My lady told me the same thing so I didn't end up doing it. All my invites were fine

I didn't notice the date. 3 months? You are a month early getting them out, op.

@mna, I asked the same thing, but I think I figured it out... It's Thanksgiving weekend so probably so people have longer to decided if they want to go to a wedding on holiday weekend since travel is more expensive and such. That is my best guess anyway.

Yeah, we're a bit earlier than the standard timelines suggest. It's a semi DW. 60+% of our guest list (including FH and I) will be traveling. Plus it's thanksgiving weekend so we're trying to give everyone plenty of time to plan.

They might go through a machine but it doesn't mean they end up with the barcode if hand cancelled. I watched my postal guy put them in the non-machine bin after I hand stamped them.

They arrived to the guests pristine and just as I sent them (because I asked for pictures).

Christina and Sandra and anyone else wondering wth we're talking about, canceling is postal jargon for the markings that go over the stamps on envelopes and is used to prevent people from re-using stamps. This is normally done by machine. The problem with our lovely wedding invites is that the process can make our beautiful envelopes a bit unsightly due the the handling through the machines. Take a look at any stamped mail you receive for an idea.

To prevent this, the PO used to (and in some cases still does) complete this process by hand for special letters, specifically wedding invitations. They basically mark the envelopes by hand directly over the stamp(s) to keep your envelopes in pristine condition.

From what the clerk told me today, even if they do this for you or give you the stamper to do it yourself as a PP mentioned, it's just for your peace of mind. They're still going to run your invites through the machine.

My clerk also explained that the reason I shouldn't be too concerned is that their machines run on a flat belt so the damage should be minimal. The older machines used to run on more of a loop so the chance of damage was higher. Older POs might still use older machines but according to her, they mostly all use the newer flat belt ones.

Sorry for being lengthy but I hope that helps.

Thank you ladypearl.. Very informative