I found a small stash of first-class stamps marked “h”. Must be from the last postage increase. Are they still good for first class postage?
Yep. Just used one yesterday.
In fact, the G stamps would also still work, as long as you added the 1 cent difference to make the H rate. If rates go up, you’ll still be able to use the H stamps if you add the difference.
Any stamp issued is valid indefinitely. You could also use A, B, C, D, E, and F stamps for whatever values they originally held. There’s even a “make-up” stamp for the difference between G and current postage (1 cent).
As a bonus, the letter stamps can now be used in international postage. I sent a bunch of stuff to Canada using them.
“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. www.sff.net/people/rothman
Yup, absolutely correct. The A through H rate stamps can all still be used for their corresponding values, which are as follows:
A - 15¢
B - 18¢
C - 20¢
D - 22¢
E - 25¢
F - 29¢
G - 32¢
H - 33¢
Indeed, any American stamp issued at any point is still valid postage, except for those issued prior to the Civil War. When the Confederate states seceded, taking their post offices with them, the Union government declared all stamps issued up to that point invalid, and issued new ones. The post office has not done anything like this since, and all stamps issued since then remain valid postage.
An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille.
Semi-off topic, but an interesting aside:
I asked my postman once why they made those “letter” stamps at all. Evidentally, the Post Office pre-prints off large runs of letter stamps to use when the rates go up, but they haven’t decided what the new rates will be yet. This way, when they do decide, they’re not hurried to print up a bunch of xx¢ stamps. I’m guessing that somewhere, the wheels are beginning to turn for the I stamp run for the next postage increase.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”