Overview of Slogan Cancellations

After all those posts showing National Slogan cancels used at Bath, it's probably time for a summary before I post up anything more !  Still to go are:

• Local Town Cancels, 
• Commercial Slogans, and 
• Commemorative Cancels.

The restrictions on the subject of Slogan cancellations were gradually relaxed from the initial Post Office rules of limiting them to subjects of national importance or to the operation of the Post Office. The chart below shows the number of slogan cancels used in each year, either of general use or for local publicity.  As can be seen, after the peak around 1970 the numbers have fallen.  Local authority reorganisation and cut-backs in the 1970s were one cause, with the use of local publicity slogan almost disappearing completely.  In the late 1980s there was been a growth in the use of slogans for national campaigns, some of which was due to the marketing campaigns of the Post Office.

Another cause of the disappearance of the local publicity slogans is the process of concentration within the Post Office, with mail being sorted and cancelled at ever larger regional centres.  After the major Post Office reorganisation in 1986, which split its operation into three separate businesses (counters, parcels and letters), within the South-West of England there were three Letter District Offices, Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth.  With many more cancelling machines at these LDOs, the number of dies needed was much increased, as was the cost of a publicity campaign.

The quality of slogan postmarks deteriorated markedly from the 1980s, with even Royal Mail admitting that it had deteriorated following the introduction of Culler Facer Cancellers  in 1992-93.

Since before their inception there was concern over slogans which appeared to “overstep the mark” by including commercial advertising.  Up to the 1980s the Post Office ruling on the topic was that mention of a commercial concern was permissable only if an event or anniversary was being advertised.  Royal Mail changed its attitude in the mid-1980s and as part of its attempt to market slogan advertising more widely, inclusion of company names was welcomed.  Companies did not respond in large numbers though “Kit Kat” and “Quality Street” slogans were widely used.  Then at the end of 1998 Royal Mail received complaints about envelopes carrying competitors’ slogans, and they took the dramatic decision to cease slogans completely, except for postcode and other Royal Mail slogans.