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P1 Members of the Society who are resident in the United Kingdom shall be eligible to receive the Exchange Packet if they so notify the Hon. Packet Superintendent in writing and furnish two satisfactory references. The Executive Committee shall have the power to refuse access to the Packet or to delete the name of any member from the circulation list without assigning any reason. (It is not possible to extend the availability of the Exchange Packet to members residing outside the United Kingdom because of difficulties from insurance and taxation requirements).
P2 a) Absence from Home and Changes of Address must be reported to the Packet Superintendent at once to avoid unnecessary delay in the circulation of the Packets. Members who are responsible for undue delay may be called upon to defray any expense incurred or, for persistent offenders, removed from the list.
P2 b) A member who wishes to discontinue seeing the Packets must give one months notice to the Packet Superintendent.
P2 c) Members passing the packet forward shall contact the recipient before posting to ensure that the Member will be aware that it is en route and is at home to receive the packet. Contact can be made by phone, fax or email but a response shall be received before posting. An ‘engaged’ tone does not constitute a response! Members unable to get a response within 48 hours shall mark the circulation list "skip" to indicate that the Member concerned has been "skipped" and shall make contact with the next Member on the list. Members lower down the list shall try to re-route the packet to include "skipped" members after circulation has continued for (say) a fortnight. Annotations and changes to the circulation list shall be clear and legible!
P3 Material for the Packets may be accepted from non-members subject to the payment of the normal commission charges.
P4 Stamps must be mounted properly in the standard booklets on the right hand pages only, and the net selling prices clearly marked in ink above them. The catalogue number and/or value may be inserted in pencil to the left of the selling price. Blocks etc must be indicated by diagrams and due note made of any thinned, repaired or doubtful stamps.
P4a Cheaper stamps may be sold in ‘lucky bags’ all to sell at the same price. ‘Lucky bags’ should be contained in a stout envelope marked with the price of each stamp and columns for Members to enter their name, the number of stamps remaining, the number of items taken, and the total price paid. Such bags shall contain no more than 250 items and will only be circulated entirely at the vendor’s risk.
P5 a) Booklets of damaged or excessively priced items, or containing items not from Austria or associated territories, may be rejected by the Packet Superintendent and returned to the owner at the owner’s expense.
P5 b) Where contributors describe a stamp by a catalogue number or in any other manner, the Packet Superintendent cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the description. Intending purchasers must satisfy themselves by reasonable methods before purchase.
P6 a) A member removing stamps must sign his name (not initials) or, preferably, use a rubber name stamp in each space from which a stamp has been removed. Care shall be taken not to damage other stamps by pressure or ink leakage.
P6 b) Members must enter on the front of every booklet received the number of stamps or items purchased by them and the value thereof.
P7 a) Upon receipt of a Packet, careful examination should be made for all spaces from which stamps have been removed. If any spaces are found without signature or if any other irregularity is observed, notice must be sent at once to the Packet Superintendent AND the member from whom the Packet was received. In all cases the value of the missing items and the postal expenses incurred will be charged to the last member seeing the Packet prior to the omission being reported. If you don’t notice a missing stamp, you will pay for it!
P7 b) Any member suspecting SUBSTITUTION of one or more stamps by others must not pass on the Packet to the next member, but return it at once to the Packet Superintendent stating his complaint. This procedure is essential under Insurance regulations.
P8 A Packet may be retained for forty eight hours, after which it must be passed on to the next member on the postal list. If a Packet is sent through the post, it must be by Ordinary First Class Letter Mail (recorded delivery confers no benefit!), and a Certificate of Posting (e.g. form P326) obtained. For some bulky, low value Packets, Second Class postage will be acceptable to our insurers but ONLY when this is clearly indicated on the circulation list by the Packet Secretary. If it is convenient to hand the Packet to the next member on the circuit, a receipt for it must be obtained in order to comply with Insurance regulations.
P9 One of the advice slips (enclosed with each Packet) must be completed and posted, together with a remittance for the value of the stamps removed AND the Certificate of Posting or the receipt for delivery by hand, to the Packet Superintendent at the time of forwarding the Packet to the next member on the list. A member who does not remove any stamps must complete the advice slip, stating the dates of receipt and despatch of the Packet. The production of a Certificate of Posting or the receipt is essential for a successful insurance claim. Members failing to send this to the Packet Secretary and unable to produce it in the event of a loss will be held personally liable for the value of that loss.
P10 Members are reminded that they are personally responsible for the packet when it is in their care, especially when out of their normal residence. The insurers may well meet a claim if a Member is mugged and the packet stolen but have no obligation if the packet is "unaccompanied" in the strictest interpretation, or if carelessness is involved. Packets left in cars are not covered by our insurance. Members shall not allow any other person to have access to the packet except in their presence.
P11 No markings, other than those prescribed in Rules P5 and P6, shall be permitted on the sheets in a Packet except where an item is considered to be wrongly described, in which case comment may be made provided that the member making such comment also signs his name.
P12 Neither the Society nor the Packet Superintendent shall be held responsible for the debts of members, or for material lost in transit or otherwise. The Packets will be insured by the Society (except against War risks or loss when unattended).
P13 A commission of 10% will be deducted from all sales to defray expenses including postage and insurance, the surplus being transferred to the funds of the Society or used to buy in further material for circulation in the Packet.
P14 All material submitted for circulation in the Packet will be deemed to be vested in the name of the Hon. Secretary for the whole period it is in the hands of the Society and its members. Selling members will be deemed, by the act of submission of book or books, to assign to the said Hon. Secretary all claims, title to sue or other legal rights competent to them in respect of each book or books.
P15 Any member receiving the packet after the 5th December in any year shall confirm to the Packet Secretary as soon as possible that he has the packet safe and shall post it to the next recipient after Boxing Day.
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©APS. This page last updated 10 May 2005