Just how would that mark preclude an employee or anyone else from using the stamp for "personal" purposes? Was it the USPS' responsibility to compare the perfin to the company's return address on the envelope? I don't understand the process.
The practice of punching the initials (perfins) of companies into the face of stamps started in Great Britain in 1869. The idea is to prevent petty pilfering and illegitimate use of the stamps owned by the company by its employees.
Postal services don't track the stamps. It is the companies that maintain the inventory and monitor usage of the stamps.
A similar thing was done with pre-canceled stamps where many companies printed the company name or initials on either on the top or bottom portion of the stamp.
This "perfin" (perforated initial or insigna) was used by the offices of the "State of Michigan" on many US stamps. You have a completed design with 8 holes in the circle, they also use others perforator hou have 8 to 18 perforation to form the external circle. I have a few copies of the "18" circle perforator. Hope it help a little,
Thanks for the education. I just never took notice of the perfin category,even though it has been right before my eyes. Just discovered another on a #720 stamp -- The letters NY bisected by a large L.