Precancels are simply stamps that have been cancelled before being used on letters or packages. Precancelled stamps have been used by organisations that send out bulk mail, such as newspaper publishers and mail order companies, in a bid to save time and money. Allowing organisations that handled large quantities of bulk mail to use precancelled stamps has saved postal authorities from having to cancel hundreds or thousands of individual stamps. Meanwhile, the customers have often benefitted by having slightly reduced postage rates.
The USA has been, by far, the largest user of precancelled stamps. Precancelling was first authorised by the Post Office Department in 1887. A variety of processes was used to precancel stamps, including typesetting, mimeography and hand stamping. Many precancelled US stamps, though, were printed from electroplates, most of which were made by contractors for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, which then supplied them to customers.
The USA experienced a large growth in the volume
