Postmarks in the transition period of postal reform

Postal reform in Myanmar is started in 2014, and is ongoing.  Changing new postmarks is also part of reform process.  We have seen Yangon GPO postmark (reported in Fantail 42) and Foreign Post postmark (reported in Fantail 44).  Recent acquisition of postmarks shows that some of the post offices started using new postmark distributed by the Myanmar Post.  U Kham Aung, Deputy General Manager of Planning and Training Department at Myanmar Post and Telecommunications, personally handed over new postmarks (cancellers) to postmasters during meetings, according to the postmaster in Nyaungshwe post office. 

Some post office has got new postmark, but they keep using the old cancellation, while the new one is kept in drawer.  New postmarks were acquired in favor from some of the post offices in Shan state.  The best example is Nyaungshwe post office; they reuse the regular English postmark after striking me the new postmark in favor (shown in recently acquired postmarks).  So, mostly, the new type postmarks from other towns except Yangon are rarely seen on covers.  The new cancellers are pre-ink stamp of the brand “MaxStamp”.

 To reference this article, please cite:

Toe Kyaw Kyar, "Postmarks in transition period of postal reform", The Burma Fantail, Vol. 14, No. 1, Whole Number 51, pp. 7-8, January 2017.