The first color USA ATM stamp was the Mailbox-design stamp from 2012

In this lot you will receive:

Here's what is important to know:  the non-holiday stamps in use at that time were on plain white labels with a red/pink stripe on the right side.  When the USPS clerks change out the labels in the machine, they are supposed to tell the machine which labels have been inserted:  either plain labels or the color pre-printed Mailbox-design labels.

In case of the "Missing Design" error in #2 above, what happened is that the clerks put in a stack of plain labels, and forgot to tell the machine that there are no plain labels, not those pre-printed with the mailbox.  The machine then prints the rest of the stamp with the assumption that there is a design already present on the left half of the stamp, which it wasn't.    Thus the "error" stamp!  These plain white labels would have resulted in a different looking stamp if the settings had been correct.

Out of the 2,500 or so USPS APC kiosks, only a couple are known to have printed this error (which was caused by a human).

I am one of the few people that still has some of these left over in their collection.

The reason for the 1¢ large postage label in #3 above is that it also shows the date sold (12/18/2012).  It came from exactly the same machine (at Zip Code 75081 in Irving, Texas) as the error stamp in #2, and this can be proven by the "08276812" PSD (postal security device number) shown on both stamps, and that the "serial #" of both the error block (shown at bottom) and the FOLD HERE stamp (vertically on the right side) are the same.

The date of the error stamp was 12/18/2012, which is shown by the date code 465.  Read further.

The regular block of 3 stamps +1 VOID label in #1 above were bought on December 2, 2012 at Zip Code 75075 (in Plano, Texas).  

How do I know this?  Simple:  the last 3 numbers in the "serial #" are actually a "date code".   In this case, date code 449.   

Want to verify how I know this?  Open a spreadsheet and enter the date 9/10/11 in one field, and 449 in another field.  In a 3rd field, add the previous 2 fields.   This works for all APC stamps purchased through November 5, 2013; after that, they changed this.

So, if you collect the USA "ATM" stamps (known as APC or now SSK stamps), this will be your chance to get one of these missing design errors.

--> I have made several thousand trips to various USPS kiosks (perhaps 50 to 100 different ones) since 2012, and only have a  couple of errors to show for it (such as "missing design", "overprinted" and "inverted").  Statistically speaking, you'd have to do at least several hundred to 1,000 visits to a machine before you happen to catch an error (which are usually correctly quickly or within a couple of days).   So, my selling price doesn't even come close to cover gasoline & driving time costs...  (for example, the machine at Zip Code 75081 is about a 70 mile round-trip from where I live).

Shipping only with tracked & insured Ground Advantage or Priority Mail Service within the USA; foreign shipments are at the buyer's risk.

A note about quality:  As with all thermally "printed" (ie: "activated") stamps, there is a a minor amount of fading present, visible mostly with the smaller text on the stamps.  All stamps have been stored in my office (climate controlled) and out of direct sunlight or daylight (ie: in envelopes).