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A question inspired by the cover illustrated below in which a Delcampe purchase arrived from Canada:



At top right it has a Canada Post label instructing (one presumes) their postal staff to look on the other side. The reason for that became clear when I did ...



... the rest of the postage was there, paid by a lot of old 3c Christmas stamps. While the stamps per se aren't any use to me, the cover as a whole will fit nicely into my "Philatelic Mail" collection.

So basically, do any Canadian members know the background to this label? It has the Canada Post logo and looks official. Is it supplied to senders who might need to give postal staff a hint that something they need to see is on the other side, either because they send large packets (the illustration shows what looks more like a box than an envelope) or just because it's a philatelic cover? Or is it something Canada Post use themselves to avoid possible confusion down the line?

Here's an enlarged scan of the label itself, which has a "07-05" imprint which may mean a printing date of either July 2005 or May 2007:

Fascinating, but can't happen in Australia.

Postal regulations ... anything on the reverse of an envelope/postcard is not valid for postage.

Also presumes manual processing. Again, in Australia, the trend is that if it can't be done by a machine it doesn't get done.

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A man might as well marry ... if he finds a good wife he will be happy ... if not, he will become a philosopher.
Collecting Greater New Guinea & Macropods (Kangaroos & Wallabies).

Interesting...lots of countries have no problem with stamps on the reverse; indeed, it some countries (India, China come to mind offhand) it was customary to put the stamps on the back, and only the address on the front. Leading to a lot of 'opened out for display' covers in albums.

Canada Post has had 'flip over' labels for quite a few years. The tracking labels for things like Xpresspost (express service) are rather large, so if you're mailing just a No.10 envelope, once you put the address and stamps on the front, there often won't be space for the label, so they stick it on reverse. The label used to be simpler, just plain text, they've 'upgraded' by adding the illustration, which is a useful aid for international mail where people might not be able to read the instructions (semi-related, the Victorian-era "Leaf" definitives were criticised terribly in Quebec, for having only English inscriptions, and hence were re-issued a year or so later as the "Numeral" issue).

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

I wondered if it was a "size" thing. Thanks!

Quite true. Although I understand if you are requesting a postmark you can apply additional postage on the back of the envelope if the stamps on the front don't add up to the basic domestic rate. If you are lucky you may even get the stamps on the back postmarked as well!

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Chris de Haer
Author of 'A Closer Look at Modern Australian Stamps' in Stamp News Australia.
Latest news on my blog http://stamps.chrisdehaer.com.au Follow me on Facebook twitter.com/stampchris