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Friday 20 August 2010

17...22...Yikes!


The big Gold labels with the Machin portrait, known as Horizon labels from the name of the computer that creates them at the post office, were introduced last year and now are in use nationwide.

Each label has a 1, 2 or 3 character code at the top to indicate the service that the label is paying for. The first trial label had code SD for Special Delivery. I'm not sure what the A is for, but another example is 1LG for first-class large letter.

For each service indicator, there are four varities. The ones used in Wales have Welsh text in addition to English. Also, a new version of the Horizon system has a thinner typeface. So there are two language versions in each of two typefaces.

In his Deegam report 89, published on July 27, Douglas Myall published a list of 17 different service indicators, making 68 different labels available.

Subsequently, he discovered five more services (to be described in his next report in October), making 22 indicators and 88 different labels.

Let me know when you've got them all!

--Larry

PS I should explain the title. In American football, the quarterback is the guy who gets the ball from the center and puts it in play. The strategy for the play is generally decided in advance, but just before he gets the ball, the quarterback can decide to change the play by calling out a series of numbers and colors. This is called an "audible." Then, when he's ready to get get the ball, he calls "hike". So he might call out "34...52...Hike." I suspect collectors of these labels may do something similar when they see Douglas' reports.

5 comments:

Ian - Norvic said...

"Let me know when you've got them all!" !!

It's difficult enough to get images of some of them from people who ought to have them.

While I have a picture of a FP (Fully Paid) getting an MOR - Mail Order Return - is difficult although the MO companies must get loads of them.

Dear Amazon....

Robert said...

Sounds as impenetrable as cricket to me! Are 'Yikes' the same as 'hikes' or is this a misprint?

Daniel said...

'A' is probably airmail - living in Australia, I've received three of these labels on parcels in the past month, all with 'A' on them.

Brian Sinnott said...

For those who would like a full listing of the indicators both old and new see here:-

http://postagelabelsuk.com/?page_id=711

Now is a good time to fill those gaps, as some of the labels available now will not be available for much longer, with quite a few changes afoot..
Brian

Anonymous said...

Robert,
'Yikes' is an expression (somewhat dated) of surprise and dismay, so I was just using it as a pun on the rhyming word 'hikes'.

Brian,
Thanks for the link to your list.

--Larry