How did I receive an envelope through the US mail without a processed stamp on it?

Question

OK, our company has been waiting on a check from one of our customers for several weeks. They swore they sent it but they are routinely late pays. I just received it in the mail today (7/21), and their Pitney Bowes stamp is dated 7/2. I know they could have just stamped it with the Pitney on 7/2, and waited to put it in the mail until just recently, to buy time on paying the bill, but there is no stamp from the post office OVER the Pitney stamp. Any other piece of mail will have a gray/black wave or gray/black date on top of the postage stamp, that shows the date it was processed at the post office. So even if they put a stamp on it on 7/2, I would actually be able to tell what day it was taken to the post office by looking at the stamp that the post office puts on top of the postage. This envelope does not have that. Also, the bar code on the back and front of the envelope (from the post office) has been crossed out with a black crayon.

Answer 1

The cancellation stamp in the post office machine may have run out of ink or the envelope that was next on the conveyor belt may have partially overridden the envelope you received.  

Also, as someone mentioned, perhaps the barcode was wrong in which case the envelope may have been pulled off, processed manually and then put back in the system after the cancellation step.

As to the delayed delivery that may be the result of the postman (postwoman) delivering it to the wrong address and the recipient not giving it back promptly.

Hope this helps

Jerry-the-bookkeeper

Answer 2

The bar code was probably incorrect which is why it was blacked out and why it took so long to get to you.

I haven't seen any of the machine stamps have a cancelled mark on it so maybe that is unique to your area.