As reported yesterday, Wincor Post and Go units are now all history for Post Office Ltd. However on a happier note the last operational kiosk – that from the WH Smith branch at Swiss Cottage, was today removed to the BPMA store for preservation for decades to come.
A fitting place for an important part of our Postal Heritage.
It is with a certain amount of sadness I report that Wincor Post & Go machines are no more in UK Post Offices.
The final curtain fell at a few minutes after 4pm this afternoon where the final operational unit at the Post Office situated in the Swiss Cottage WHSmiths (London NW3) was finally taken out of service .
Yes there is a updated , more modern NCR kid on the block , but there will always be a certain fondness for the first nationwide “toe in the water” for self service mail in the uk – the Wincor Nixdorf propostal .
What many collectors don’t realise is that this is also the end of “post and go” for the Post Office as the new NCR units are not Post and Go machines – the thinking being that they offer much more than “just post” . They are named “self service kiosk” ( or SSK) units and so the signage around offices that have never had a a WIncor unit will not mention “post and Go”
The “Post and Go” terminology will live on however , but now will only apply to the stamps produced by Royal Mail .
Self service will never be quite the same again .
On the Post Office stand the various exhibits, including Identity and Information equipment were pride of place, including a Post and Go machine with a previously unseen office code of ‘699010’, believed to be that of an internal ‘test’ machine. There were various teething problems with the kiosk on the first day (May 11th) and it was late on on the 2nd day (May 12th) before some stamps were forthcoming. A very limited number of covers dated 12th May 2011 (London EC3 Postmark) were serviced as shown.
This issue shows (In the order that they are printed on the machine-vended strip):- Collared dove, Greenfinch , Blackbird, Magpie, Long-tailed Tit and Chaffinch.
The stamps are available in two different versions :-Firstly as as a sheet of six different stamps all with ‘1st Class’ press- printed directly from Royal Mail in Edinburgh and secondly, the ‘real’ machine printed versions (available from
) with five different overprints.
The Machine printed versions are cut every fifth stamp. The third set of British birds is scheduled for issue in May and the fourth in September 2011 .
The image shows the set of six, with Ludgate Circus self-service facility kiosk No.4 overprint, which was available for the first day of issue only.
To purchase these stamps from our ATM Shop click here:- https://postagelabelsuk.com/?page_id=929
Postage Labels of the UK-The Modern Collecting Alternative
