Okay, this is something I’ve wondered about for a long time. When I want to send something through the USPS, I go to the post office, buy a sheet of stickers with various images on them, and stick them on whatever it is I want to mail. The USPS knows that I paid them to deliver the mail based on the presence of this “stamp,” so they obligingly transport it to its chosen destination.
However, to look at a stamp, it seems that it would be very easy to counterfeit. It is, after all, just a little sticker with funny-cut edges, right? Is there some invisible indicator of authenticity on each stamp? Do they have some secret method of making sure that the adhesive-backed piece of paper on the envelope is worth 41 cents instead of 4 cents?
What’s the point, really? I’m sure there are a few they don’t advertise, but counterfeiting stamps is like counterfeiting nickels. Hardly worth the trouble. Plus, if you get caught, they have your name and address already, and Federal crimes can be rather costly.
Okay, to clarify, I’m pretty sure that the time and effort involved would keep me from ever attempting this, even before taking possible prosecution into consideration. I’m aware of why I shouldn’t do it. It’s more a question based on some level of technical curiosity.
This article from 2004 suggests that the purpose of counterfeit stamps is not so much for personal mailing needs but to scam other people.
“Hey my company is going out of business and I’m never going to use these 3,000 stamps we had in the stock room. So rather than just taking a bath on them, why don’t you buy them from me for half price?”
This ABC article on a countefeit bust earlier this year gives some insight on anti-counterfeit measures. In addition to showing the same motive for counterfeiting in the first place it mentions that postal inspectors caught on because of a large number of stamps failing scans for a “phosphor tag.”
This page is about seeing the phosphor printing on British stamps but I would assume it is similar for U.S. stamps. It sounds like the phosphor ink on stamps isn’t so much primarily for counterfeit detection as to allow sorting machines to properly orient the envelopes (similarly the magnetic ink used on bank checks helps with automated processing).
When I was a kid, about 1965, Mad Magazine had a bunch of stickers of Alfred E. that were the same size and layout as stamps. I put one on a letter to myself, and it seemed to go through fine.
I can’t imagine given the large variety of stamps around that the cancelling machines check.
Related questions that I trust won’t be considered a hijack at this point:
I was told once that a stamp that lost its stickiness could be taped to an envelope at its edges as long as there was an area for it to be cancelled. I’ve had that work before but also I’ve had mailings rejected.
If you had a $1 stamp and wasn’t sure if it had been cancelled or not, could a local post office test it for you? Will they buy back a stamp or allow you to use it as payment for other stamps?
AIUI, the Post Office will honor the cash value of any uncancelled stamp, no matter how old it is. (Found out when The Monster got a hold of some neat “stickers” and put them on the newspaper.)
It might work with individuals but maybe not with individuals who have a use for 3000 stamps. Wouldn’t someone like that already use a postage meter? Would anyone eve have 3000 stamps in their inventory?
From my days with the USPS, I seem to remember that most letter mail’s postage is scanned and canceled by a machine that reads the color patterns on the stamp. That could be a manufactured memory, but I distinctly remember being impressed upon hearing it. Just like the quality of their OCR technology (a Lockheed solution, if I remember correctly).
Yep. There’s a point at which it becomes economical to invest in a postage meter. Organizations just below that point mail everything with thousands of stamps. Believe me; I’m in such an organization and have looked into the costs.