Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I got a call late last week from a fellow in New Jersey who was giving up car modeling. He is 75 and cannot see well enough to build anymore, and arthritis in his hands makes it painful. He knows about my local club, and appreciated attending our annual show. He calls to donate his remaining hoard of kits to our club. So today I drove from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to pick up this collection. We will use the sealed kits for our raffle at next year's show. And I'll share the opened and played with stuff with our club members! He was pleased, he wanted it all to go to good use and not the landfill!
Jim is in South River, NJ. I'm familiar with that area and my Waze program knew exactly where he lived! We had a nice visit. Jim has his finished model cars in wall mounted display cases in his living room. He built some of them in the late 1950s, so it was a treat to see them!
I haven't been on a postmark run in nearly two years, mainly due to Covid. I went into my car's glovebox looking for my owners manual, and I saw my envelope full of stuff used to chase postmarks.... hmmm!
It was already noon by the time I left Jim's place and I wasn't all that prepared. I knew I was near the town of Edison and one elusive postmark... a contract post office in Devine's Pharmacy. It was listed as only being open full days on weekdays, so I hadn't been there. And a handstamp from a contract post office would never be found in the mail or on eBay... the only way to get one was to go and fetch it! So we were off!
Exhibit One - "Contract Postal Unit" Edison, NJ! on one of my postcards! The listing on USPS.Com calls it CPU Devine's Pharmacy and lists the hours as 9:30am-2:00pm and 2:30pm-5:30pm. I was fortunate to arrive at 1:30pm, because a handwritten sign said the hours were now 12:00pm to 2:00pm and 2:30pm to 5:00pm. Ya never know when chasing postmarks!
I was fortunate that the older gentleman at the counter was very nice. He understood my request and allowed me to guide him to the proper location for the postmark. He apologized for the light cancel, saying he was going to have to reink their only device, but there wasn't much call to stamp things. That confirms just how rare the markings are! I had been thinking about this one for a long time, and now it is done! I have no idea how long this office has been active, it wasn't listed in any of my resources, I added it from the USPS.Com website. Nobody at the pharmacy knew either!
Then I headed south to the Ernston Station of the Parlin post office. To add to the confusion this is actually in Sayreville, NJ... I know that because my son in law's brother is a cop there. There is no Ernston section of the town, best I can figure is the office was named after the road it is located on.
Again, a post mark I've been thinking about for a while. The office has been active since 1970 and is difficult to get to. A highway project on the corner of Ernston Road and Route 9 did a highway overpass over Ernston Road and pretty much destroyed any access in or out of the little strip mall where the post office is located. In fact Waze had a hard time, and directed me into a dirt parking area behind it. I had to walk in!
The lady behind the counter was very friendly and not only granted me my postmarks, but handed me the device and a piece of paper to practice. And I was able to do perfect postmarks! Note I said postmark"s", since these were tough to get units, I hand cancelled 3 cards at each location, knowing I could share or trade them with others in the postmark club.
I was on a roll! But at the same time it was 2:30pm and I was two hours from home. I wanted to get through the Pennsylvania Turnpike before rush hour, so I headed home! It was a good day and I can scratch these two postal units off my bucket list!
No post in this series is good without a recap! These two markings brings me to 984 unique cancellations out of 2220 possible for a 44.32% completion.
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Thanks Phil!
Since I posted this, I checked both my database and the USPS.COM site to see what other contract post offices I was missing. I found 4 in lower Monmouth County / Upper Ocean County that were fairly close together. I printed it out and put it in my envelope that sits in my glove box. Next trip to NJ, I may visit these!
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I just came across this thread when I was looking for something else, took a look and got side tracked as usual!
I hadn't scheduled any postal runs since this post, and the two stops off the top of my head barely qualify as a "run", but I have two quick side trips to share and an aborted run from last week! On Tuesday Sept 19th, I spoke at the Hamilton NJ Stamp Club on the topic of my beloved Ben Franklins. I hadn't been to this club since before Covid, so I brought along one of my volumes of my NJ Postmark collection, to considerable interest. So I probably will be putting together a presentation on the topic.
On that Tuesday I had full intentions of hitting those CPU units that I mentioned above. I went out to my car, turned the key, and.. nothing! The battery had gone dead and I didn't have another car to jumpstart it because my wife was out. So I hooked up the slow battery charger and waited for my wife. Once she gave up car number two, I got to the meeting in time but had no time for anything else. Oh well.
But I have two minor triumphs on past trips to NJ mainly because I keep the envelope of stamped envelopes and cards in the glove box of each car. Always be prepared!
On February 24th, my fourth granddaughter was born. This is the first baby for my second daughter so they are quite over the moon! I did my traditional birthday postcard, so I went to the Red Bank, NJ post office, the town where Riverview Medical Center is located, and the hospital where all my granddaughters and my two daughters were all born!
I approached the counter with some apprehension since I've had issues getting postmarks. I was armed not only with the regulation about hand back cancels for collectors, but the album where I had the previous cards done at that same office for the other kiddos. At first the lady wasn't sure what I was asking for. When I showed her the album she melted! She called over two other ladies to see too, and we canceled 14 cards. I wanted a dozen to share with family so I cancelled 14 cards. The cachet is applied afterwards so I wanted to account for any spoilage. Fortunately we had none so 14 of this card exist! My daughter framed it and it's in the baby's room. It's become a family tradition.
My son in law called me while I was out, and asked me to pick up that day's newspaper to keep for her. I found out how tough it was to find a local newspaper, The Asbury Park Press, at a store in the afternoon! I must've gone to a dozen places until I got the very last one at a supermarket. And that gave me an idea... I needed the Sea Bright NJ VPO cancel... hmmm.
Sea Bright is a shore town in Monmouth County and is actually on a peninsula less that a half mile wide. It's been battered by storms since the beginning of time. There have been times that the entire land mass was under water. Still the old down town street through the middle has a few blocks of old buildings and stores. Most everything built in this century is up high or on stilts.
The post office was established in 1871 and no doubt was in a couple different places over time. During Hurricane Sandy the post office I remember in the center of town was damaged, and I can see never reopened. I guess the postal officials decided there were enough local offices to service the community. Still they allowed for a Village Post Office (VPO) to be in Bain's Hardware store.
When you go to a CPU (Community Post Office) or a VPU (Village Post Office) you never know what you will encounter. This one didn't disappoint. In the back corner of this very full old time hardware store there was a cluster of post office boxes and a small unmanned counter. I stood there for a few minutes and then went to the front of the store. There were two young ladies at the counter and I inquired about the post office and mainly about the post mark. One of them reached under the counter and retrieved a plastic baggy that contained a very worn out rubber stamp and a green bingo marker. (I only recently found out VPOs use a green cancel) She warned me it was pretty worn out, and the sample postmarks were as bad as the ones on the card above. Pretty dismal! If you found this card in a collection you would have no idea what it was. But since I witnessed the marking, I wrote on the back of the two cards I got cancelled. I made a note to someday go back there with a green stamp pad (which I use for my turtle stamper), some solvent and super glue to see if I can coax some decent strikes out of an otherwise unattainable postmark!
On July 5th, my wife and I attended a barbeque at a friend's house in Howell, NJ. On the way there we passed the Ramtown Pharmacy where I knew the Ramtown CPU of the Howell Post Office existed. I pass near this all the time since both our friends and my sister live nearby, but never during postal hours. So I dropped my wife off and told her I'd be right back. Yes, I got the rolling of the eyes!
Fortunately at Ramtown there was a sign and a dedicated portion of the main counter for the postal activities. The clerk was a young fellow who was absolutely cooperative. He carefully post marked my cards after checking his device on scrap paper. Wonderful postmarks! Made my day. Then I put the envelope back in the glove box and went to the party!
Hopefully I'll do a full blown postal run in the near future!
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When hobbies co-exist in harmony? Maybe!
I got a call late last week from a fellow in New Jersey who was giving up car modeling. He is 75 and cannot see well enough to build anymore, and arthritis in his hands makes it painful. He knows about my local club, and appreciated attending our annual show. He calls to donate his remaining hoard of kits to our club. So today I drove from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to pick up this collection. We will use the sealed kits for our raffle at next year's show. And I'll share the opened and played with stuff with our club members! He was pleased, he wanted it all to go to good use and not the landfill!
Jim is in South River, NJ. I'm familiar with that area and my Waze program knew exactly where he lived! We had a nice visit. Jim has his finished model cars in wall mounted display cases in his living room. He built some of them in the late 1950s, so it was a treat to see them!
I haven't been on a postmark run in nearly two years, mainly due to Covid. I went into my car's glovebox looking for my owners manual, and I saw my envelope full of stuff used to chase postmarks.... hmmm!
It was already noon by the time I left Jim's place and I wasn't all that prepared. I knew I was near the town of Edison and one elusive postmark... a contract post office in Devine's Pharmacy. It was listed as only being open full days on weekdays, so I hadn't been there. And a handstamp from a contract post office would never be found in the mail or on eBay... the only way to get one was to go and fetch it! So we were off!
Exhibit One - "Contract Postal Unit" Edison, NJ! on one of my postcards! The listing on USPS.Com calls it CPU Devine's Pharmacy and lists the hours as 9:30am-2:00pm and 2:30pm-5:30pm. I was fortunate to arrive at 1:30pm, because a handwritten sign said the hours were now 12:00pm to 2:00pm and 2:30pm to 5:00pm. Ya never know when chasing postmarks!
I was fortunate that the older gentleman at the counter was very nice. He understood my request and allowed me to guide him to the proper location for the postmark. He apologized for the light cancel, saying he was going to have to reink their only device, but there wasn't much call to stamp things. That confirms just how rare the markings are! I had been thinking about this one for a long time, and now it is done! I have no idea how long this office has been active, it wasn't listed in any of my resources, I added it from the USPS.Com website. Nobody at the pharmacy knew either!
Then I headed south to the Ernston Station of the Parlin post office. To add to the confusion this is actually in Sayreville, NJ... I know that because my son in law's brother is a cop there. There is no Ernston section of the town, best I can figure is the office was named after the road it is located on.
Again, a post mark I've been thinking about for a while. The office has been active since 1970 and is difficult to get to. A highway project on the corner of Ernston Road and Route 9 did a highway overpass over Ernston Road and pretty much destroyed any access in or out of the little strip mall where the post office is located. In fact Waze had a hard time, and directed me into a dirt parking area behind it. I had to walk in!
The lady behind the counter was very friendly and not only granted me my postmarks, but handed me the device and a piece of paper to practice. And I was able to do perfect postmarks! Note I said postmark"s", since these were tough to get units, I hand cancelled 3 cards at each location, knowing I could share or trade them with others in the postmark club.
I was on a roll! But at the same time it was 2:30pm and I was two hours from home. I wanted to get through the Pennsylvania Turnpike before rush hour, so I headed home! It was a good day and I can scratch these two postal units off my bucket list!
No post in this series is good without a recap! These two markings brings me to 984 unique cancellations out of 2220 possible for a 44.32% completion.
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re: A New Jersey Postal Adventure!
Thanks Phil!
Since I posted this, I checked both my database and the USPS.COM site to see what other contract post offices I was missing. I found 4 in lower Monmouth County / Upper Ocean County that were fairly close together. I printed it out and put it in my envelope that sits in my glove box. Next trip to NJ, I may visit these!
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re: A New Jersey Postal Adventure!
I just came across this thread when I was looking for something else, took a look and got side tracked as usual!
I hadn't scheduled any postal runs since this post, and the two stops off the top of my head barely qualify as a "run", but I have two quick side trips to share and an aborted run from last week! On Tuesday Sept 19th, I spoke at the Hamilton NJ Stamp Club on the topic of my beloved Ben Franklins. I hadn't been to this club since before Covid, so I brought along one of my volumes of my NJ Postmark collection, to considerable interest. So I probably will be putting together a presentation on the topic.
On that Tuesday I had full intentions of hitting those CPU units that I mentioned above. I went out to my car, turned the key, and.. nothing! The battery had gone dead and I didn't have another car to jumpstart it because my wife was out. So I hooked up the slow battery charger and waited for my wife. Once she gave up car number two, I got to the meeting in time but had no time for anything else. Oh well.
But I have two minor triumphs on past trips to NJ mainly because I keep the envelope of stamped envelopes and cards in the glove box of each car. Always be prepared!
On February 24th, my fourth granddaughter was born. This is the first baby for my second daughter so they are quite over the moon! I did my traditional birthday postcard, so I went to the Red Bank, NJ post office, the town where Riverview Medical Center is located, and the hospital where all my granddaughters and my two daughters were all born!
I approached the counter with some apprehension since I've had issues getting postmarks. I was armed not only with the regulation about hand back cancels for collectors, but the album where I had the previous cards done at that same office for the other kiddos. At first the lady wasn't sure what I was asking for. When I showed her the album she melted! She called over two other ladies to see too, and we canceled 14 cards. I wanted a dozen to share with family so I cancelled 14 cards. The cachet is applied afterwards so I wanted to account for any spoilage. Fortunately we had none so 14 of this card exist! My daughter framed it and it's in the baby's room. It's become a family tradition.
My son in law called me while I was out, and asked me to pick up that day's newspaper to keep for her. I found out how tough it was to find a local newspaper, The Asbury Park Press, at a store in the afternoon! I must've gone to a dozen places until I got the very last one at a supermarket. And that gave me an idea... I needed the Sea Bright NJ VPO cancel... hmmm.
Sea Bright is a shore town in Monmouth County and is actually on a peninsula less that a half mile wide. It's been battered by storms since the beginning of time. There have been times that the entire land mass was under water. Still the old down town street through the middle has a few blocks of old buildings and stores. Most everything built in this century is up high or on stilts.
The post office was established in 1871 and no doubt was in a couple different places over time. During Hurricane Sandy the post office I remember in the center of town was damaged, and I can see never reopened. I guess the postal officials decided there were enough local offices to service the community. Still they allowed for a Village Post Office (VPO) to be in Bain's Hardware store.
When you go to a CPU (Community Post Office) or a VPU (Village Post Office) you never know what you will encounter. This one didn't disappoint. In the back corner of this very full old time hardware store there was a cluster of post office boxes and a small unmanned counter. I stood there for a few minutes and then went to the front of the store. There were two young ladies at the counter and I inquired about the post office and mainly about the post mark. One of them reached under the counter and retrieved a plastic baggy that contained a very worn out rubber stamp and a green bingo marker. (I only recently found out VPOs use a green cancel) She warned me it was pretty worn out, and the sample postmarks were as bad as the ones on the card above. Pretty dismal! If you found this card in a collection you would have no idea what it was. But since I witnessed the marking, I wrote on the back of the two cards I got cancelled. I made a note to someday go back there with a green stamp pad (which I use for my turtle stamper), some solvent and super glue to see if I can coax some decent strikes out of an otherwise unattainable postmark!
On July 5th, my wife and I attended a barbeque at a friend's house in Howell, NJ. On the way there we passed the Ramtown Pharmacy where I knew the Ramtown CPU of the Howell Post Office existed. I pass near this all the time since both our friends and my sister live nearby, but never during postal hours. So I dropped my wife off and told her I'd be right back. Yes, I got the rolling of the eyes!
Fortunately at Ramtown there was a sign and a dedicated portion of the main counter for the postal activities. The clerk was a young fellow who was absolutely cooperative. He carefully post marked my cards after checking his device on scrap paper. Wonderful postmarks! Made my day. Then I put the envelope back in the glove box and went to the party!
Hopefully I'll do a full blown postal run in the near future!
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