With the recent increase in mailing costs, I had to buy some $0.03 stamps. How does the US Postal (or any other countries’) equipment know the denomination of each stamp. Or, do they? I am sure no one is looking at all the stamps as the envelopes go throught the sorting or cancelling machines.
Jim
I don’t know but I’ll bet they do. Why don’t you try leaving a 3 c off a letter you don’t care much about and see what happens?
They use an optical reader for both stamps and zip codes.
What’s it reading? One book of stamps I have is from last year, when stamps were a penny cheaper. I also have a new book. Neither set of stamps displays the cost. They’re both a picture of the flag, with no numbers anywhere.
The numbers are a convenience for postal patrons. There is exactly one value assigned to a given stamp design, whether or not it has that value printed on it. I’m sure the optical readers are programmed to recognize unique or necessary features so that each stamp’s value can be identified.