IRELAND'S AN POST CELEBRATES 25 EVENTFUL YEARS
The British Isles are well known for their penny posts, a part of the postal revolution that made sending a letter affordable for everyone in the middle of the 19th century, but another groundbreaking one took place much later, in January 1984.
On Jan 3, 1984, Irish postal users could send a basic rate letter or postcard within the country for just one Irish penny, a true money-saving opportunity. This massive discount was designed to catch people’s attention, and the reason was the inauguration that day of a commercial state postal company called An Post, an Irish Gaelic name that translates roughly as … The Post. Items posted on the day received a special slogan postmark proclaiming "Penny Post Day 1984, an example of which can be found illustrated elsewhere on this page.
The Irish Post Office was very busy that day, even if it ran at a loss, and its publicity aims were achieved as four million 1p Irish architecture definitive stamps were sold that day and millions of people were prompted to reflect on why they could send a postcard to Auntie Colleen.
As The Collector, the An Post philatelic bulletin, notes: "From its first day of business, when it reintroduced penny postage for one day, An Post signalled its intention to be innovative in its approach to marketing … the company strove, though new products, to stimulate demand."
An Post set out on a potentially perilous course that day, although it was a course many if not most nations had to embark on to bring their postal operations into the modern era. And now, in 2009, the Irish experiment has proved successful, if not without problems, and An Post is a robust, flexible and carefully run enterprise of the sort that a modern small nation needs to survive in the European and global markets.
So it is not surprising that An Post has released a set of ten stamps commemorating its 25th birthday, although it does make a statement in that all of the images are up-to-date ones of postal employees doing their jobs with modern equipment and facilities, of postal patrons enjoying world-class facilities and even of the Sean Kelly Cycling Team, which it sponsors.
Given this focus on new products, the two strips of ten self-adhesive stamps – all 55c issues that everyone uses for domestic mailings -- are accompanied by a first day cover, a booklet containing all the stamps, a box containing 100 of the stamps and a set of five An Post vans from throughout its history attractively packaged in a box. Now some of these items are not exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but no-one is forced to buy them, and a collector wanting just a basic set of stamps can acquire them for a modest outlay.
A very cheap but tricky challenge also presents itself: trying to collect all of the stamps postally used. Even tougher, as I put my postal history thinking cap on briefly, would be collecting each of the stamps properly used on cover or postcard.
I’m fortunate in that I don’t live all that far from Ireland and can occasionally take the ferry over the Irish Sea to visit friends, have a chat with Irish collectors and perhaps do some buying and selling. I’ve found An Post issues to be attractive and varied, if a bit too cutesy at times, and I’ve always been impressed by the stamps and the service when I call in at the philatelic counter in the famous and imposing General Post Office building on O’Connell Street in Dublin.
As The Collector also reports, An Post has seen many milestones in its busy first 25 years:
-- It has produced 12 joint issues with other nations, including Canada of course.
-- Its single European currency issue showed the stamp value for euro and Irish punt (or pound) for the first time.
-- The Christmas 2001 issues were the last to have a punt value.
-- Ireland’s first lenticular (moving image) stamps were issued in 2006 to mark the hosting of the Ryder Cup US vs Europe golf match.
-- An Post has issued two stamps featuring Braille: its 2006 30th anniversary of Irish guide dogs stamp and 2009 Louis Braille issue.
-- The www.irishstamps.ie web site was launched in March of 2002.
No doubt we can look forward to a few more.
IRELAND FINALLY ADDRESSES POSTCODE ISSUE
One thing An Post has not brought in is a postcode system, making Ireland the only country in Europe not to have one, although two-digit basic alphanumeric codes have been used in Dublin and Cork. I’ve long wondered why some Irish envelopes have orange postal mechanisation code bars on the back of them, and perhaps they relate to this partial code.
At any rate, that is all changing. The country’s communications minister, Eamon Ryan, announced in September that tenders for the design and implementation of the coding system would be issued shortly and that a system is expected to be in place in 2011 for the country’s 1.75 million addresses. The current economic woes, with Ireland having been hit particularly hard, are likely to be a factor as the once-booming "Celtic Tiger" seeks ways to improve competitiveness and stop multinationals moving work to lower cost countries.
"We're the only country in Europe which doesn't have a postal code ... and we like that in a nostalgic way," Ryan told public radio RTE. "But the reality is it's not efficient and it doesn't work well. We need to move to a new digital economy, postcodes are part of that."
Postcodes would not only make mail delivery more efficient but would also help other businesses that rely on the exact tracing of goods in the export-reliant Irish economy. "There are a lot of corporations internationally who would be very anxious to piggyback on the back of the new system once it's in," John Whelan, chief executive of the Irish Exporters Association, told the Reuters news agency.
No doubt the satellite navigation industry will be pleased too. Anyone running an event in Britain has become accustomed to giving the postcode of the venue so people can tap the code into their system and put away the map.
Editor's note: This is one of my Commonwealth Communique columns for Canadian Stamp News. For more details on this excellent publication, including how to subscribe, go to http://www.canadianstampnews.ca
On Jan 3, 1984, Irish postal users could send a basic rate letter or postcard within the country for just one Irish penny, a true money-saving opportunity. This massive discount was designed to catch people’s attention, and the reason was the inauguration that day of a commercial state postal company called An Post, an Irish Gaelic name that translates roughly as … The Post. Items posted on the day received a special slogan postmark proclaiming "Penny Post Day 1984, an example of which can be found illustrated elsewhere on this page.
The Irish Post Office was very busy that day, even if it ran at a loss, and its publicity aims were achieved as four million 1p Irish architecture definitive stamps were sold that day and millions of people were prompted to reflect on why they could send a postcard to Auntie Colleen.
As The Collector, the An Post philatelic bulletin, notes: "From its first day of business, when it reintroduced penny postage for one day, An Post signalled its intention to be innovative in its approach to marketing … the company strove, though new products, to stimulate demand."
An Post set out on a potentially perilous course that day, although it was a course many if not most nations had to embark on to bring their postal operations into the modern era. And now, in 2009, the Irish experiment has proved successful, if not without problems, and An Post is a robust, flexible and carefully run enterprise of the sort that a modern small nation needs to survive in the European and global markets.
So it is not surprising that An Post has released a set of ten stamps commemorating its 25th birthday, although it does make a statement in that all of the images are up-to-date ones of postal employees doing their jobs with modern equipment and facilities, of postal patrons enjoying world-class facilities and even of the Sean Kelly Cycling Team, which it sponsors.
Given this focus on new products, the two strips of ten self-adhesive stamps – all 55c issues that everyone uses for domestic mailings -- are accompanied by a first day cover, a booklet containing all the stamps, a box containing 100 of the stamps and a set of five An Post vans from throughout its history attractively packaged in a box. Now some of these items are not exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but no-one is forced to buy them, and a collector wanting just a basic set of stamps can acquire them for a modest outlay.
A very cheap but tricky challenge also presents itself: trying to collect all of the stamps postally used. Even tougher, as I put my postal history thinking cap on briefly, would be collecting each of the stamps properly used on cover or postcard.
I’m fortunate in that I don’t live all that far from Ireland and can occasionally take the ferry over the Irish Sea to visit friends, have a chat with Irish collectors and perhaps do some buying and selling. I’ve found An Post issues to be attractive and varied, if a bit too cutesy at times, and I’ve always been impressed by the stamps and the service when I call in at the philatelic counter in the famous and imposing General Post Office building on O’Connell Street in Dublin.
As The Collector also reports, An Post has seen many milestones in its busy first 25 years:
-- It has produced 12 joint issues with other nations, including Canada of course.
-- Its single European currency issue showed the stamp value for euro and Irish punt (or pound) for the first time.
-- The Christmas 2001 issues were the last to have a punt value.
-- Ireland’s first lenticular (moving image) stamps were issued in 2006 to mark the hosting of the Ryder Cup US vs Europe golf match.
-- An Post has issued two stamps featuring Braille: its 2006 30th anniversary of Irish guide dogs stamp and 2009 Louis Braille issue.
-- The www.irishstamps.ie web site was launched in March of 2002.
No doubt we can look forward to a few more.
IRELAND FINALLY ADDRESSES POSTCODE ISSUE
One thing An Post has not brought in is a postcode system, making Ireland the only country in Europe not to have one, although two-digit basic alphanumeric codes have been used in Dublin and Cork. I’ve long wondered why some Irish envelopes have orange postal mechanisation code bars on the back of them, and perhaps they relate to this partial code.
At any rate, that is all changing. The country’s communications minister, Eamon Ryan, announced in September that tenders for the design and implementation of the coding system would be issued shortly and that a system is expected to be in place in 2011 for the country’s 1.75 million addresses. The current economic woes, with Ireland having been hit particularly hard, are likely to be a factor as the once-booming "Celtic Tiger" seeks ways to improve competitiveness and stop multinationals moving work to lower cost countries.
"We're the only country in Europe which doesn't have a postal code ... and we like that in a nostalgic way," Ryan told public radio RTE. "But the reality is it's not efficient and it doesn't work well. We need to move to a new digital economy, postcodes are part of that."
Postcodes would not only make mail delivery more efficient but would also help other businesses that rely on the exact tracing of goods in the export-reliant Irish economy. "There are a lot of corporations internationally who would be very anxious to piggyback on the back of the new system once it's in," John Whelan, chief executive of the Irish Exporters Association, told the Reuters news agency.
No doubt the satellite navigation industry will be pleased too. Anyone running an event in Britain has become accustomed to giving the postcode of the venue so people can tap the code into their system and put away the map.
Editor's note: This is one of my Commonwealth Communique columns for Canadian Stamp News. For more details on this excellent publication, including how to subscribe, go to http://www.canadianstampnews.ca
posted by Chad Neighbor at
5.1.10
|
1 comments
