Postmarks

[vulcan42]

How do postmarks work? just received first Christmas card this year from Brother who lives in east Sussex. The postmark is Chester & N Wales, how/why did it go from Sussex to Wales before being cancelled? Normally his letters are cancelled in Eastbourne and out of curiosity I contacted him and he isn't on holiday.

[mikey4444]

If you posted the letter somewhere along that North Wales strip, it would probably be processed in the Mail Centre at Chester. Royal Mail doesn't really recognise national borders as such.

I hope that answers your query !

[SirOracle]

I often get mail from Eastbourne vulcan and it always has "Gatwick" postmark on it.

Maybe because I am in Scotland and mail is sent by air.

[Hopkirk]

Mikey, I didn't realise that Sussex was in North Wales.

[janbee]

I live in East Sussex and all my mail goes through the Gatwick hub and gets that postmark. I don't understand your postmark dilemma though. Very strange.

[mikey4444]

Sorry Vulcan...I misread your post ! ( thanks goes to Hopkirk ! )

At this time of year, mail gets shifted around the country, if the local office is too busy to deal with their own stuff. Also, the postmark doesn't mean very much these days, as all mail is given an invisible coding across the stamp, by Mail Centre Staff. So all the stuff from Sussex may very well have been coded, sent up to Chester, which is a main Mail Centre, and then postmarked there.

[mrs.chappie]

I live in a village in East Yorkshire, where the nearest city is Hull, yet all my post arrives with a Sheffield postmark. :o/