Rubber stamps for officialdom

mikehibb said:
(Non Boaty)

Over here in "former soviet land" the local authorities always insisted on stamps on everything. ( getting a bit easier now though)

10 years ago we could not get a document signed off without a stamp, so made one on paint shop, then printed it over the document, it was obvious what we had done, but they needed to see a stamp and they got one one the document, made them happy.
We have also resorted on one occassion to doing a rubbing over a coin with a pen top, made it look like embossed stamp, signed over it, worked OK.

We then invested in a proper embossing "stamp" . Worked wonders, they loved it.

I guess Refueller might have some similar stories from his region about officialdom and red tape.
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Yes ! :D Absolutely true.

And if you produced a document written in English, for example and instead of stamps you put some bright red sealing wax over a thin green ribbon and used the reverse of a theepenny bit as an indentation, when you flashed this at comissars, etc., they would snap a salute ! :D Gaspadin ! :D
 
And Don't Forget The Postage Stamps As Well

I read in a sell up and sail book that couple placed some UK Postage Stamps, the ones with her Her Majesty The Queen's head, onto certain ships documents, stamped over with the ships stamp to make it look more official. If my memory recalls it was a home made document verifying proof of ownership and title to yacht! I wonder if the Vat man would accept it on their return?
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
I read in a sell up and sail book that couple placed some UK Postage Stamps, the ones with her Her Majesty The Queen's head, onto certain ships documents, stamped over with the ships stamp to make it look more official. If my memory recalls it was a home made document verifying proof of ownership and title to yacht! I wonder if the Vat man would accept it on their return?
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Wouldn't surprise me. Often the way the bureaucratic mind works is that if one has OK'd something the others will not query it!
 
My name is Peter and we have two boat stamps. One serious, one a little more fun.

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They are absolutely vital when sailing in South East Asia – no boat stamp, no paperwork completed. Since we got the Med, we’ve only used them in book swops.

Indonesia is the stamp maker’s paradise. We reckoned that Indonesian desks have special drawers for the 100 or so stamps every official seems to need. Our record was 13 different stamps on one document.

To alleviate the mind boggling boredom of dealing with officialdom, SWMBO and I used to have a small side bet running on the size of the largest stamp that would be used that day. We gave up when one official opened his bottom draw and with difficulty drew out a stamp the size of an A4 sheet.

He inked it with a roller, and with eyes bulging, sinews popping, lifted it over the document.

When the stamp came down, the desktop creaked and groaned, dust drifted down from the ceiling, dogs for miles around started barking frantically and it registered on a local earthquake monitoring station.

We could never beat that.
 
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When my parents lived in Moscow, even the guy delivering bottles for the office-style water-cooler (the water in the building was reckoned dubious for drinking) had a stamp for the delivery notes.

Round ones definitely trump square ones.

Also, holy thread regurgitation.

Pete
 
yerreps said:
I've read in the past that a boat's personalised rubber stamp can be an aid in clearing into/out of some ports where bureaucracy rules. Has anyone here found them to be useful?

If so, what's the optimum size and layout? I'm off to the Caribbean shortly and would appreciate anything which will enable me to spend more time at the bar and less in the customs office!

Tom
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Forget the boat stamp. Much more effective is to smile a lot, speak only when spoken to and then only answer the question asked. And show great interest when the immigration bloke mentions the local cricket team / arts festival / charity race etc. Then smile some more and say thank you, what a beautiful country.

Will work much better than any piece of plastic with ink on it. :D :D

And try not to be behind the grumpy argumentative skipper in the queue.
 
Rigger Mortice said:
In that case why not cover all possibilities and get a rubber stamp with smilies on it?
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:D :D :D

One possibility :)

Though round the atlantic I never even heard of a stamp being mentioned, either in an office or with cruisers in a bar. Best plan I find to get in and out of customs and immigration quickly is to treat them like human beings and be nice. Even when they are having a grumpy moment.
 
Trying to get Part 1 registration at the moment. So far it has involved 3 languages and companies in 4 countries.

I hit a brick wall when the current owner produced an invoice for the boat that was 9 years old. The owner before, who issued the invoice, and is on the original builders certificate, wrote a very nice letter on headed paper signed by two directors of the company stating that the invoice was paid in full and the boat was indeed transfered to the current owner.

Wasn't good enough for the U.K. ships register, the original invoice needs to be stamped 'Paid in Full' even though the two companies involved are Croatian and Austrian (the invoice was paid by a bank transfer and never re-issued, as is the way here, and the original paper records have been destroyed as they are so old).

At least Bavaria Yachts produced a copy of the original Builders Certificate from 1999 in about a week. Gotta love the Germans.

Anyway ... in officialdom the right rubber stamps can make a huge difference as I am finding to my cost.
 
Yes, never fails.
Make sure you use red ink for the stamp. Agree with the round versus square point.
Develop a flourishing and illegible signature to scrawl through the stamp.
A little stamp with the initials of your present persona adds a little mystique - if produced at the last moment to stamp the document at the moment of presentation, just after you have made your mark.

Long ago when I was paid to be in places at 09:00 I dealt with the Germans, both sides of the Wall. The probability of a piece of paper producing the desired effect was in direct proportion to the number of stamps it bore. I recall my assistant and I trawling departments for likely looking stamps to add gravitas to any request for action, delivery, co-operation or money.

Generally worked as I do not have to be anywhere at 09:00 any more, unless a tide is involved.
 
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