Date Stamps Explained: Choosing the Right Dater, and Why to Check It Before January

A date stamp prints the day something happened, usually the day a letter, invoice or package reached your desk. Office daters differ in how they are inked (self-inking models such as ClassiX, or pre-inked models such as Xstamper) and in what they print, from the date alone to a message like RECEIVED or PAID beside it. An adjustable dater can only print the years on its band, so December is a good time to check each one's final year before the first January mail arrives.

Below: Xstamper and ClassiX dater formats, how offices use them, and a year-end checklist.

What types of date stamps are there?

Grouped by how they ink and how the date changes:

VersaDaterLine datersN821-5/16" x 2-1/8"CalendarPerpetual

Self-inking daters

A self-inking dater keeps its rubber face resting on an ink pad inside the frame, and each press prints and returns the face to the pad. ClassiX daters come in plastic and steel frames; the steel M41 is built for heavy volume stamping. The P40 uses water-based ClassiX ink, and its pad slides out to be re-inked or replaced.

Pre-inked daters

The N82 VersaDater, a pre-inked Xstamper dater, uses oil-based Xstamper ink. Every XpeDater comes with an inked base for a permanent spot on a desk or counter, and the small N75 and the larger N85 also come with a cap. The XpeDater N85 prints your custom message with the month, day and year in a 1-3/16" round impression, and its date band includes A.M., P.M., REC'D, PAID and FAX'D. To change the date on the N75, you open the stamp body at the middle and turn the dials; on the N85, you twist the body open and turn the dials. Other XpeDaters vary, so check the instructions for your model.

Line daters

A line dater prints the date in a single line. The ClassiX 4-Year Line Dater can also print A.M., P.M., REC'D, ENT'D, ANS'D and PAID in place of the year. The pre-inked VersaDater Line Dater has an 8-year band, prints in red, black or blue, and comes in large, small and Julian versions.

Message daters (phrase daters)

A message dater puts text next to the date. The VersaDater does it in two parts: alone, it is an 8-year line dater, and when you snap on a pre-inked Impression Frame™ it becomes a message dater. Stock frames read PAID, RECEIVED or FAXED, and the custom N82 VersaDater carries your own copy in a 1-5/16" x 2-1/8" impression.

Rotary and date-kit daters

On the rotary XpeDater N77, the month and year sit in the center and the day runs around the outer ring; the N78 puts the time on that ring instead. Circular daters such as the N59 come with a 10-year date kit, and the N59's individual dates are changed with tweezers.

Calendar stamps for planners

The Perpetual Calendar Stamp is a modular calendar stamp: you arrange the pieces into a month, stamp it into a notebook, journal or to-do list, and rearrange it for the next one. The pad is sold separately, and we recommend a Shachi-iro IROMOYO Stamp Pad.

Dater types compared: date band, date changes and ink

The VersaDater and the date-kit daters both have a dating component that is also sold separately: the VersaDater Line Dater, and replacement date kits for the N59.

Self-inking or pre-inked: which dater stamp should you pick?

Start with how often you re-ink. We rate the XpeDater N75 and the VersaDater PAID Impression Frame™ at approximately 50,000 impressions before re-inking, and the ClassiX P40, M40 and M41 at approximately 5,000 to 7,000 impressions. At 200 impressions per workday, those initial ratings equal about five to seven workweeks for the ClassiX models and about 250 workdays for the PAID frame before the first re-inking.

Re-inking a self-inking date stamp is quick: the pad slides out. Just use the refill made for that stamp: ClassiX Refill Ink for ClassiX, Xstamper Refill Ink for Xstamper. Other inks may damage a ClassiX stamp, and in an Xstamper the wrong ink can clog the rubber's micropores and void the Xstamper warranty. For the full mechanical comparison, see our guide to pre-inked vs. self-inking stamps.

RECEIVED, PAID, FAXED: when a message dater beats a plain date

A message dater tells you what happened on a date, so a busy intake desk gets one consistent impression instead of a handwritten "rec'd" note. The ClassiX stock daters and the stock VersaDater both print the message in blue and the date in red, and the two colors make important information easy to identify at a glance.

If your intake desk needs one word, the ClassiX RECEIVED dater prints the RECEIVED message and the date in one impression. Desks that switch tasks have two other routes. The ClassiX REC'D/PAID/FAX'D dater comes with three adhesive-backed dies you can change, though a die may not be reusable once removed. On the VersaDater, the frames swap instead: PAID, RECEIVED and FAXED frames are designed to attach to an existing VersaDater.

How do offices use daters for mail, invoices, legal and medical records?

Mail intake

Under Internal Revenue Code section 7502, a tax return or payment mailed in the United States, properly addressed and postage prepaid, with a U.S. postmark dated on or before the deadline, is generally treated as delivered on the postmark date. The National Taxpayer Advocate reported in April 2026 that under new U.S. Postal Service rules, postmarks are applied when mail reaches automated processing, not when USPS first receives it. The postmark shows when mail moved through the postal system; a received date stamp is your office's note of the day it landed on your desk.

Invoices and accounts payable

Under 5 CFR 1315.4, a mailed invoice counts as received on the day a federal agency's designated office gets it only if the agency annotates the invoice with the date of receipt. If it doesn't, the invoice is deemed received on the date the contractor put on it, which can shorten the payment window. The same section says acceptance reports will be stamped or otherwise annotated with the receipt date. Private companies are not governed by this federal rule, and an internal receipt stamp does not by itself settle a dispute, but it gives AP a consistent record to work from.

Legal offices

For legal offices, we suggest the N59 circular dater, made for clear, professional circular date impressions. When the hour matters as much as the day, the XpeDater N78 prints the time around its outer ring with the month, date and year in the center.

Medical records

Medical offices can use the N59 too, but a dater records a date, not who wrote or approved the document. The Medicare Program Integrity Manual states that stamped signatures are not typically acceptable, with a narrow exception for providers with a documented physical disability.

Spelled-out months and Julian dates

The W3C notes that MM/DD/YY is the U.S. convention ("sometimes used in Canada, too") while most of Europe uses DD/MM/YY, and recommends explicit month names with four-digit years. Our sample dater impressions use that style, as in DEC 31 2027. Some operations count by day of the year instead: egg cartons with the USDA grade shield carry a three-digit pack date that runs from 001 for January 1 to 365 for December 31, according to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. We also offer a Julian version of the VersaDater Line Dater; check its print format on the product page before ordering.

Why year-end is when offices replace or check their daters

An adjustable dater can only print the years on its band. Each band includes a guaranteed number of valid years: 4 years on the ClassiX 4-Year Line Dater, 6 on XpeDaters, 8 on VersaDaters and 10 on ClassiX daters such as the P40 and M41. After the final year passes, the stamp no longer prints a correct year. The N75 warranty is tied to the same span: "Guaranteed for the Life of the Date Bands."

What you do when a band runs out depends on the design:

• VersaDater: the VersaDater Line Dater is sold separately, and its recommended uses include the N80, N82 and stock PAID, RECEIVED and FAXED frames. If your frame has a "Label Window," it is the newest version; if not, please call Customer Service at 800-541-9719 ext. 1 for help with compatibility.
• Date-kit daters (N59): the 10-Year Date/Time Kit includes 10 years beginning with the current year, January through December, numbers 1 to 31, AM and PM, and tweezers.
• ClassiX and XpeDater models: we do not sell replacement date bands for these models, so replace the dater when its band runs out.

Custom daters take 1 to 2 business days to manufacture. For delivery before the holidays, Dec. 14, 2026 is the last day to order custom stamps.

How to check your daters before January

1. Collect every dater in the building, including the one in the partner's top drawer.
2. Roll the year band all the way forward. The last year you can reach is the last year the stamp can print. Write it on a strip of tape on the handle.
3. Flag any dater whose band ends next year. Order the replacement line dater, date kit or new stamp now, not in the first week of January.
4. Stamp a test sheet. If it prints faint, re-ink with the matching ink. After re-inking, let a ClassiX self-inking stamp sit overnight so the pad can saturate, and let an Xstamper pre-inked stamp sit up to 24 hours.
5. Check self-inking pads. We sell replacement ClassiX pads for models including the P40, M41 and M71.
6. Set every dater to the new year on the first workday, before anyone opens the mail.

Frequently asked questions

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