Dannj wrote:
Wouldn’t it be pretty hard to “prove” when something was postmarked if a dispute arose? We drop things in the mail box or at the counter at the PO and expect it to be marked that day. If we’re later notified that a payment, for example, was late, how do we go about proving when it was mailed?
If you need a specific postmark stand in line and ask the clerk to hand stamp the envelope. For sure it will be the postmark for the day mailed.
Most letters are transported from the post offices where they are collected to USPS Processing and Distibution Centers on a daily basis or more often, There they are canceled and the addresses are read by machine and a bar cord printed on the envelope. This barcode is used to direct the mail through the rest of processing and transport all the way to the delivery. Very little human contact. Your barcode is different from your neighbor to the point that the sorting machines can put the carriers deliveries in proper order. Yes, sometimes mis-orders occurs. The automation has helped keep stamp cost lower than they would be if more human sorting was utilized.