ISLE OF MAN. ATM issues 2019

Isle of Man wildlife

After the Triskelion definitives (see article, also published in VARIABLE 44 & 46), the 125th anniversary of the Manx Electric Railway (article and VARIABLE 50), and the Beano issues (article and VARIABLE 51), the fourth series of variable value stamps from the Isle of Man depicts the diversity of wildlife on the island.

As with the two series issued in 2018, this new one complements a set of 'traditional' stamps with the same designs and issued on the same date, February 12th 2019. But unlike the previous cases, the new series of variable value stamps includes the ... ten designs! of the 'traditional' stamp series.

The photographs chosen for this series are by the Manx photographer Brian Liggins, showing different wild animals that inhabit the island; the hare, common blue butterfly, gannet, kingfisher, common lizard, stonechat (design chosen for the EUROPA 2019 series), wallaby, hedgehog, crimson and gold moth & the field mouse.
The case of the wallaby is really curious. This is a marsupial or small kangaroo native to Australia and New Guinea, whose presence on the island dates back to the '60s, when several animals escaped from a zoo. At present there are over 150 wild wallabies on the Isle of Man, the largest population of this species in the northern hemisphere.

Therefore, in addition to presentation packs, first day covers, sheets and booklets of 'traditional' stamps, the Isle of Man Post Office also required the manufacture of rolls of labels with the ten designs, to be used in the different machines issuing variable value stamps; the aCon printers used by the philatelic service, the 'Pay & Post' postal kiosks, and the printers installed in post offices. Each machine issues stamps with a different printing variety.

The rolls of 1,800 thermal self-adhesive labels with the ten consecutive designs were manufactured by the Irish CCL Label Ireland Ltd company, with the same characteristics as in the previous series.

Preprinted stamps & aCon variable value stamps

Preprinted stamps	Variable value stamps aCon printers		Isle of Man Stamps & Coins has produced strips of ten self-adhesive stamps (left image) that include all the information preprinted in offset, reproducing that printed by the small aCon desktop printers in use at the philatelic service. This is a very particular printing, as the face value appears within a box. On these strips of preprinted stamps, all stamps have the same face value, £0.52, corresponding to the basic domestic postal rate on the date of issue, the date of the first day of issue in ordinal format (19043 = February 12th 2019), and the same fictitious code IOM01973 at the bottom edge of the stamp, corresponding to the year in which the Isle of Man Post Office Authority became an independent postal administration. Normally these preprinted stamps have the sequential upright numbering at the lower right hand corner beginning with 1; in this case however, the same sequential numbering, as per the rolls, was printed in error. The font size of the thermal printing of the aCon printers used by the philatelic service and also used at some philatelic events (e.g. London Stampex) is smaller than that reproduced on preprinted stamps. The date under the chosen face value is variable, depending on the actual date of issue (in the image, it is also the first day, 19043), and the lower code corresponds to the printer reference (IOM01507, in the image). All stamps have a small sequential upright number at the lower right hand corner, preprinted along with the design.

Pictorial first day cover

'Pay&Post' kiosks & Post offices

On the first day of issue, the new series of variable value stamps was available from at least one of the counters at the Douglas and Ramsey post offices, as well as from the post office in the postal company's headquarters, in an industrial park, west of Douglas. On that day however, due to technical problems, only the postal kiosk installed in the company's headquarters was able to issue the new series (image below).

During the following weeks and months the new series progressively became available from other postal kiosks and post offices, as previous rolls of labels started to run out.

'Pay&Post' postal kiosks	Post offices		The postal kiosks and computer systems installed in the various post offices use the same rolls of labels, consisting of the image and a preprinted small sequential upright number in the lower right corner, and print the same information on the stamps, although in very different print fonts. Below the face value, the machines print the date of issue in ordinal format YYDDD (19043, in the images), and a unique lower code for each stamp. The first four digits show the postal kiosk number or post office code, and then the session or stamp number. On the date of issue, by selecting the 'Touch to Buy Stamp Labels' option, the postal kiosks offered customers the direct purchase of variable value stamps with four basic postal rates £0.52 - £0.52 - £0.83 - £1.40 (see screen below), corresponding to the current rates for letters up to 100g for domestic, United Kingdom and Channel Island mail, and letters up to 20g for Europe and the rest of the world, respectively. Other franking values are obtainable by selecting the 'Touch to Post an Item' option, placing the mail item on the scales provided, and selecting the shipment destination and type.

Christmas cards, the Spirit of Christmas

For the second year running in 2019, the Isle of Man Post Office prepared a new series of variable value stamps for release during the Christmas season.

Very appropriate for the time of year, the new thematic series celebrates the centenary of the Greeting Card Association (GCA), the UK trade association founded in 1919 for Greeting card publishers. The UK is actually the most prolific card-sending nation in the world, and also leads the world in card design and innovation.

Like the first series of the year, dedicated to Isle of Man wildlife (see article, also published in VARIABLE 52), the series of ten (!) variable value stamps complements a series of 'traditional' stamps of the same designs and issued on the same date, October 28th 2019. The images chosen in collaboration with the GCA show some of the favourite Christmas card designs in the British Isles; Santa Checking His List, Postbox & Geese, The Gardeners' Friend, Christmas Tree, The Nativity, Champagne Flutes, Church in the Snow, Little Town of Bethlehem, Tatty Teddy & Holly Berries.

The 'Christmas cards' collection includes a presentation pack, first day covers and sheets with the 'traditional' stamp series, as well as sheets of self-adhesive preprinted stamps for domestic mail. The Isle of Man Post Office also required the rolls of labels with the ten designs so manufactured so as to be usable in the different machines issuing variable value stamps; the aCon printers used by the philatelic service, the 'Pay & Post' postal kiosks, and the computer systems installed in post offices.
The rolls of 1,800 thermal self-adhesive labels with the ten consecutive designs were manufactured by the Irish CCL Label Ireland Ltd company, with the same characteristics as in previous series.

Preprinted stamps & aCon variable value stamps

Isle of Man Stamps & Coins has produced sheets of ten and twenty self-adhesive stamps (left, below) that include all the information preprinted in offset, reproducing that printed by the aCon desktop printers in use at the philatelic service, with the face value within a box. On these sheets, all stamps have the same face value, £0.57, corresponding to the basic domestic postal rate on the date of issue, the date of the first day of issue in ordinal format (19301 = October 28th 2019), and the same fictitious code IOM01973 at the bottom edge of the stamp, corresponding to the year in which the Isle of Man Post Office Authority became an independent postal administration. The sequential upright numbering at the lower right corner goes from 1 to 10.

The font size of the thermal printing of the aCon printers used by the philatelic service is smaller than that reproduced on preprinted stamps (right column, below). The stamp face value is variable, according to customer requirements, as well as the actual date of issue (in the image, it is also the first day, 19301). The lower code corresponds to the printer reference (IOM01508, in the image). All labels have a small sequential upright number at the lower right corner, preprinted along with the design.

Preprinted stamps	Variable value stamps aCon printers

Above, pictorial first day cover produced by the Isle of Man Stamps & Coins with the set of preprinted stamps. Right, first day cover with the set of variable value stamps printed by an aCon desktop printer.

'Pay&Post' kiosks & Post offices

On the first day of issue, the new series was available at the Douglas and Ramsey main post offices, as well as at the post office in the postal company's headquarters, in an industrial park, west of Douglas.
During the following days and weeks, other post office branches and kiosks began progressively using rolls of the festive series until the end of the Christmas season or until exhaustion of stocks.
Among them was the kiosk with code 214-1, previously installed in the Peel's Shoprite supermarket and transferred in mid 2019 to the Henry Bloom Noble Library, in downtown Douglas (images).

The postal kiosks and computer systems installed in post offices use the same rolls of labels, consisting of the image and a preprinted small sequential upright number in the lower right corner, and print the same information on the stamps, although - as can be seen in the images below- in very different print fonts.
Below the face value, the machines print the date of issue in ordinal format YYDDD (19301 in all the images below), and a unique lower code for each stamp. The first four digits show the postal kiosk number or post office code, and then the session or stamp number.

On the date of issue, by selecting the 'Touch to Buy Stamp Labels' option, customers were able to purchase variable value stamps with four programmed basic postal rates £0.57 - £0.57 - £0.90 - £1.50 (see screen and receipt below), corresponding to the current rates for letters up to 100g for domestic, United Kingdom and Channel Island mail, and letters up to 20g for Europe and the rest of the world, respectively. Other franking values are obtainable by selecting the 'Touch to Post an Item' option, placing the mail item on the scales provided, and selecting the shipment destination and type. In some cases, the printing on the stamps may appear displaced (central strip, below), as a result of the displacement of the roll inside the printer.

The computer system installed at the counters in the post offices enables postal employees to print variable value stamps according to the weight, destination and type of shipment.

'Pay&Post' postal kiosks		Post offices