China - new modern colorful meter stamps
In 2020 CHINA POST issued the first meter stamps with a color image.
Before a label as the above one goes into the vending machine, the colored motif is printed on it by a print company on behalf of the local post office:
On the TS71 vending machine, manufactured in Hangzhou, the red imprint is then made to the right and left of the motif using a special ink paper:
Type and position of the imprint must be determined in advance by trained personnel:
The customer can then choose the desired postage rate.
The machines are usually located in a post office. The label is often sold in combination with a matching envelope or postcard:
Envelope matching the above label.
Matching postcard - label with postcard postage ¥ 000.80:
self-adhesive label with step-shaped rectangular "perforation" and silver safety stripe from TS71 machine type
The covers/postcards can be posted in any mailbox throughout China. The meter stamp has a consecutive number and the date of printing. Sometimes there is a second date indicating the end of the validity period. The period of postal validity can range from several months up to one year after print.
Behind the QR-code hides a number - for example:
For the TS labels there exist two different classifications:
特2025-1 … national - 特 = national (special)
粤2025-1 … local - 粤 = GuangZhou (Guangdong / Canton)
national
Instead of a label, the print can also be made directly on the corresponding postcard or envelope:
At the “Asian International Stamp Exhibition 2024” in Shanghai, there was a mobile post office with 6 inkjet printers in 2 different models:
The printers were operated by CHINA POST employees. The postage rate could have been chosen and the validity was not limited. Depending on the customer's wishes, printing was carried out either on a self-adhesive label (size 150 x 40 mm)
perforated in the middle - the unprinted, left half can be used for decorative stamping:
or directly on the postal item
If you wanted, you could have canceled the stamp for additional franking yourself.
The picture of the meter stamp shows a combination of the exhibition logo and the mascot. Note the mascot's face mask. Let’s hope that the mascot stayed healthy with the extreme large number of visitors.
Museums, cultural institutions and non-profit associations can also request personalized designs of these meter stamps - for example the ACPF (All-China Philatelic Federation)
Private cover, meter stamp valid 1 year
In the meantime there even exists a catalog - especially translated in English for you:
So get on your bikes and start into a new era of meter stamps - I'm already on the way in a colorful world:
created by photoshop
Arnoldt Rehm, December 2025
Little collection of bicycle related meter stamps:
I would like to raise one more question for discussion: Can the label from the TS71 machine with the step-shaped rectangular perforation and silver safety stripe type (RE34377) also be called “personalized ATM”? Please let me know your opinion by e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I will summarize the answers here later.
References/External links:
CHINA 2024 Asian International Stamp Exhibition in Shanghai - Report by Pep J. Jové - ATEEME – Grupo de Estudio y Coleccionismo de Sellos de Valor Variable