In December 2004 without any prior notice, the Spanish Post Correos installed a new ATM vending machine, type Epelsa LF model 1100, in the Main Post Office of Andorra la Vella. This machine, numbered 10039, had been transferred from the post office of Granollers, in Barcelona, a location to which it had been assigned initially but where it was never in service. Although it could be considered just like any of the other transfers and relocations of the Spanish LF ATM vending machines after their introduction in the middle of 2003, in this case it acquired a special interest and relevance to the study and collecting of ATMs, because it is the first and only automatic vending machine installed in Andorra which only issues ATMs of the design used in the Principality.

Because of its unique character, a large number of visits were made to try and gain some information about this machine. The machine was transferred to the post office in December 2004 and the Director decided to install it in the inner lobby. It was not put in service immediately, because in the selected location, next to the front door, it did not have a mains power point available.

After several weeks, the problem was solved and the machine was switched on but it was programmed with the older postal rates as used in 2004 !!. The technical services were notified, and adjustments made, so that the vending machine finally started up on April 1st, 2005 with the new postal rates.

The following Monday, April 4th, the machine was taken out of service. The distributor had issued only 41 ATMs, covering the 3 tariffs for normal mail with just 11 of them used as a mail frankings.

A month later, on May 12th, the technical service repaired the vending machine but on the next day it was again out of service as it would not accept coins. At this point it had issued only 11 ATMs, 10 used for franking letters, among them the first for express mail. In the picture is the first express letter posted to Spain and franked with an ATM from this LF machine (indication URG) in Andorra. The postmark is dated May 13th, 2005.

The third and most effective intervention of the technical service, fulfilling the commitment undertaken by Grupo Epelsa S.L. to repair all the LF vending machines in Spain before the end of May, took place in the last week of May of 2005.


In 2005 the EPELSA LF 1100 ATM vending machine issued ATMs on paper type 4 and with only the 6 programmed basic franking values, corresponding to the postal rates for that year; 3 for normal mail: 0.28 (minimum value possible) - 0.53 & 0.78 EUR, and 3 for express mail: URG 1.95 - URG 2.40 - URG 2.75 EUR (corresponding to the tariffs for standard letters up to 20 g. to Spain, Europe and the rest of the world).

Illustrated commemorative cover edited by ATEEME

At the beginning of 2006, with 2 consecutive changes of postal rates due to the application of IVA (VAT / Sales tax) on stamps and the annual increase of tariffs, the LF vending machine was programmed with an error.

The technical service did not arrive to program the machine with the first change of postal rates, applicable only between January 1st and 31st. The ATM vending machine continued to be out of service for long periods because of some problems with the coins selector.

In March 2006 the technical service again repaired the machine, improved the thermal printing, and carelessly removed the means of printing the machine number. From this date, the ATMs were issued without the machine number (10039) on them, and it was programmed with 8 new postal rates applicable from February 1st, 2006 – not 6 as needed in Andorra. These extra tariffs were applicable to items posted from Mainland Spain and the Balearic islands - not from Andorra.
This programming error also affected the stand alone franking scales in service in all the post offices of the Principality. The thing is that nobody had allowed for was the adjustment of the software for the special postal rates in Andorra, where the IVA is not applicable.

The vending machine was in service with this programming error for only a few days, until the error was noticed. During this short period it was possible to obtain this very rare 8-values set.


These 8 values were programmed into the LF 1100 vending machines in Spain from February 1st 2006, and correspond to the 3 rates for normal mail (0.29 - 0.57 - 0.78 EUR) for a letter up to 20 g. destined for Spain, European countries and rest of the world respectively, and 5 more for urgent-express mail (URG 2.01 - URG 2.33 - URG 2.49 - URG 2.89 - URG 2.75 EUR), with destination to the Canary Islands - Ceuta - Melilla - Andorra, Spain and Balearic islands (and include IVA), European countries not in the EU, countries of the European Union (with application of IVA) and rest of the world respectively.
(More information, see the postal rates).

On the pictures below, the sequence of screens appearing on LF 1100 vending machines starts with the selection of the tariff or shipment type, either normal or urgent / express mail. If normal mail is selected, the machine allows a selection of upto 6 different destinations, or 5 if the urgent mail is selected.

Selection of tariff or shipment type	Destination options for normal mail	Destination options for urgent - express mail

After an enquiry to the legal department, Correos, in the first days of April, sent an order to Grupo Epelsa S.L. to prepare new files with the postal rates applicable to Andorra, and these arrived on April 5th. During the following week they updated the rates programmed into all the stand alone franking scales in service in the Principality, as well the rates programmed into the ATM vending machine.

From this date the LF machine issued ATMs with only 6 basic franking values: the 3 corresponding to normal mail (0.29 - 0.57 - 0.78 EUR) and the 3 for urgent mail (URG 2.01 - URG 2.49 - URG 2.75 EUR), destined for Spain and Andorra, European countries and the rest of the world respectively.
Since IVA is not applicable in Andorra, express mail up to 20 g. and inland or Spain destination has the same rate, 2.01 EUR, and also the urgent mail to European countries, members of the EU - European Union and none EU, has only a tariff of 2.49 EUR.