THE THERMAL ATMs
The EPELSA
- MOBBA issues |
| 1.
INTRODUCTION. THE THERMAL ATMs |
From 1992 the Spanish Postal
Offices began to be equipped with franking balances from the
Spanish manufacturers EPELSA and later
MOBBA.
These balances use rolls of 1900
adhesive labels of thermal (phosphorescent) paper printed by flexography
or offset procedures. The printing of the face value and other information
are of thermal type and it occurs between 70º C and 80º
C (maximum density obtained at 100º C).
 |
The labels
are a thermal type paper (80 gr/m2), with a thermal sensitive layer
for black images, and self adhesive on a roll of backing paper type
crystal transparent (type BG40, 62 gr/m2 and width 48,9 mm.).
The form is a rectangle of 47 x
26-27 mm. and are phosphorescent for their recognition by the cancel
machines. |
|
|
The ATM design is printed in
cuatricomía with tertiary colours. The Philatelic Service
decides the subject of the ATMs and contacts the manufacturer about
the final development of the design, then awaits final approval of the
Spanish Post.
¿
How much does an ATM really cost ?
In many occasions
this question arises, especially when in some post offices they refuse
to issue ATMs with face value 1 pta. or 0,01 €
arguing that the cost of manufacture of the label is much higher.
In September
2001, Spanish Post published the public tender for the acquisition
of the 344.000 rolls of labels that they will use during 2002,
with a maximum cost of 0,66 pts. per label. But the final cost
of each sticky label is really around 0,45 pts. (0,0027 Euros). |
Although is possible to recognize
different varieties in the first papers, there are 4 main formats
or label types used as a paper for the variable value
stamps or ATM issues from 1992:
| Format |
Type 1 |
Type 2 |
Type 3 |
Type 4 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Manufacturer |
3 manufacturers (FNMT, OVELAR
and
Albeniz) |
OVELAR
(by
order from RCM-FNMT) |
RCM-FNMT. Real
Casa de la Moneda - Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre |
SIGNE,
S.A. |
| Label size |
47 x 27 mm. |
47 x 27 mm. |
47 x 26 mm. |
47 x 27 mm. |
| Lateral |
Straight side, without undulations |
Wavy side with points |
Smooth wavy side |
Wavy side |
| Use |
It was used for the 3 initial ATM
issues (1992 / 1994) |
It's used from the 4th ATM
issue (1995) until 2002 |
It's used for some ATM issues
from 2001 until 2003 |
Paper used
in the most ATM issues 2003 and 2004 |
| Security |
|
It include different security
measures |
It include different security
measures |
It also include
the printing of the Correos logo with invisible ink |
The
labels incorporate security measures to avoid counterfeiting, like
the use of phosphorescent paper, the text micro printing
and a round cut in the centre to avoid reusage. From 1992,
and to prevent the fraud, the balances printed asterisks before
the face value to complete the maximum sequence of digits that the machine
can print.
The thermal
ATMs includes the face value,
the machine number and, in some instances, the name of the city
where the Post Office is located -- depending on the configuration
of the machine.
The printing
of the date of purchase is an option that is offered to the user
of the machine (always a postal clerk in Spain), which turns
the label from an ATM to a franking label for immediate use.
Having finished
the operation, the machine also prints a receipt
for the user on thermal paper.
The
printing varieties |
Control
labels |
Adjust labels | Receipts
| ATMs conservation
ATM
Web - Spain and Latin American Postal Services: http://www.ateeme.net
©
J. Jove - M. Sans.
ATEEME. Variable value stamps study group.
All rights reserved
This
page was created in 2000. Last updated : 21.04.04.
English edition rewritted by S. Goodman (21.04.04)
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