# Apparently I will never receive my stamps.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-will-never-receive-my-stamps/852995>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 1, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-will-never-receive-my-stamps/852995 "2020-05-01T17:42:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-i-will-never-receive-my-stamps/852995/41 "2020-05-07T18:09:20Z")

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> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> You theoretically can, but it’s illegal to do that on purpose. My sister tried that when she had some pen pals, as a joke, but never did it again after both our parents and I told her this. Oh, yeah, she replied, “Then have me arrested!”. We weren’t going to go THAT far.
> 
> Why wouldn’t stamps be usable until a certain date? Maybe there was a printing issue and that’s why they didn’t go out right away?
> 
> In addition, seed companies are getting swamped with orders, so if you ordered those, be surprised if they arrive on time.

I believe in some countries, stamps are technically not valid until their first day of issue. In the US, if a stamp is due to come out on June 1, even if they have it on hand on May 31st, it cannot be sold because the bar codes are programmed in their sales computers and it will not let the clerks ring them up.

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