The German machine labels
The machine label (abbreviation ATM) was introduced in Germany in 1981 by what was then the Deutsche Bundespost. Postage stamps - the official name for automatic postage stamps (APWz) are sold via a stamp machine. The value is only printed on a blank stamp form when it is sold to the postal customer.
Including the Berlin machine stamp, ten different stamp designs have appeared so far (2017). The motif with the three post horns "Emblem Deutsche Post" is counted twice, as it was available in pennies as well as in euros after the introduction of euro cash. Philatelists who specialize in vending machine labels can organize themselves in the Federal Association of Role Labels, Labels Booklet and Machine Labels (RSV) in the Association of German Philatelists.
Need to introduce
To promote post automation, the Federal Post Office needed a postage stamp that could be individually produced in counter operation and in the self-service area, which was forgery-proof and inexpensive. Therefore, at the end of the 1970s, she planned to introduce “machine postage stamps” (APWz). Above all, these should provide different postage values in order not to require a separate stamp for every possible type and form of mail, which should help reduce costs (especially personnel costs). At the same time, postage adjustments, which previously had the complex problem of exchanging entire stamp stocks on a specific date and having to offer appropriate "supplementary values" to the previous postage levels, should become easier and cheaper to implement. Likewise, the vending machines, which could only give a few denominations or stamp booklets and usually only accepted one or a few types of coin, should be discarded and replaced with new ones.
Test phase
From 1979, the Central Post Office (PTZ) in Darmstadt tested various formats that could be considered for a machine brand. The format was similar to today's labels and only differed in the number of transport holes (from zero to two) at the top and bottom. The Federal Postal Ministry placed the order for the production of five drafts of value-printed postage stamps, which exist in two different colors. The fourth design, in which the lettering was in green, was selected and introduced in 1981 as the first German vending machine brand.
Introduction
After France (1969), Switzerland (1976), Norway (1978) and Brazil (1979), the Deutsche Bundespost introduced the machine brand as the fifth postal administration in Germany on January 2, 1981. The machine stamps were available from the post office for postage stamps in advance, but they were only valid from Friday, January 2nd, 1981. Three days later, on January 5th, 1981, the first machine was put into operation in the Darmstadt 11 post office. In the course of January, 16 additional coin printers were put into operation in the cities of Cuxhaven, Lübeck, Cologne, Bonn, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Starnberg and Berchtesgaden.
From February 1, 1987, the automatic postage stamps of the Deutsche Bundespost issue were included in the regular service offer of the dispatch point for postage stamps.
In West Berlin, the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin had its own brand of vending machines with the motif Schloss Charlottenburg from May 4, 1987. This stamp was valid for postage until December 31, 1991. In the German Democratic Republic there was no independent machine brand, with the currency, economic and social union on July 1, 1990 between the Federal Republic and the GDR, the two machine labels (Bund 1 and Berlin 1) became valid in the GDR.
All Pfennig machine labels of the Deutsche Bundespost and later of the Deutsche Post AG with the designation Germany were valid until June 30, 2002. For the introduction of euro cash on January 1, 2002, the machine labels were converted to euros.
On October 24, 2008, two new machine stamp motifs were officially presented at the postage stamp exchange in Sindelfingen. For the first time, the offset printing process was used for a German vending machine brand, which enables pin-sharp image quality of the motifs shown. The two labels show the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and the Post Tower in Bonn. Both motifs are printed alternately on the machine brand roll. With the change to these stamps there was also a change in the value stamp (value imprint) from the upper to the lower edge. The € symbol has been omitted.
On December 16, 2016, two new machine brand motifs were presented by Deutsche Post. The two stamps show the motif on the subjects of “writing letters” and “receiving letters”. Both motifs are printed alternately on the machine brand roll.
Todays situation
The advancing development of printer and computer technology has led to a complete displacement of the machine labels from counters. At the same time, the privatization of the Federal Post Office and the reduction in the number of post offices could also be responsible for the decline in ticket machines, as these can only be used for this. Insofar as a letter is posted and paid for directly at the counter, it is now postage paid again with postage stamps or a type of stamp and, in the case of special forms of mail such as registered mail, the (additional) paid fee is printed on the sticker, which also contains the data of special form of shipping.