I have a recurring mailing. It requires 6 forever stamps. When the postal rates go up will this affect the number of stamps I need to use? I tried to look it up but my google-fu failed me.
Assume the weight of the package I mail is the upper limit allowable with 6 stamps.
It depends whether, under the new tariff, the item can be posted using stamps equivalent to 6 first class stamps at their new prevailing rate.
For example:
If first class stamps cost 10 brapples, and your parcel costs 60 brapples to send, you can use 6 first class stamps.
If the tariff changes so that first class stamps are now 12 brapples, your forever stamps are now worth 12 brapples
But if, during that change, the cost/weight cutoff for your parcel has not scaled in linear fashion and now costs 80 brapples, 6 x first class is no longer sufficient, so 6 x forever first class won’t be either.
Nope. That’s why they’re forever stamps. You can use stamps bought at the old rate and use them even after the rates go up…
No. Forever Stamps are guaranteed to be equal in value to the current price of a one ounce domestic First Class letter. The price of additional ounces is different than the price of the first ounce. For example, currently the first ounce costs 47 cents and each additional ounce (or fraction of an ounce) costs 21 cents, up to 3.54 ounces.
Whatever it is that the OP is mailing is obviously not a letter, since the maximum current price for a domestic First Class letter is $1.10, which would only require 3 Forever Stamps (and you’d be overpaying if you actually used 3 Forever Stamps).
Note I am deliberately saying “First Class letter” to differentiate it from a “First Class Flat” or a “First Class Parcel” which have different rates.
So, essentially, 6 First Class stamps are now good for mailing any item that costs $2.82 (6 X 0.47) or less. If the price of whatever he is mailing goes up to more than 6 times the first ounce rate for a domestic First Class letter, then six Forever Stamps will not be enough to pay the postage.
When you use one Forever Stamp on a domestic First Class letter weighing 1 ounce or less, it is guaranteed to cover the cost forever. But if you start using multiple stamps on different kinds of items (letters, parcels, whatever), the calculation becomes more complicated and there is no guarantee the price in terms of Forever Stamps will stay the same.
I used to do a lot of mailing, and was a big fan of forever stamps. Twice I beat the postal increase by buying LOTS of stamps ahead of time. Good investments.
The third time I bought a ton of stamps, I unfortunately soon went out of business. Today I am using 49c Forever stamps to pay for 47c fees. Oh well, I have to get rid of them somehow.
Royal Mail 1st and 2nd class stamps are always valid “forever”. The current 1st class rate for an inland letter is 64p. I could invest in thousands on the assumption that prices will go up faster than inflation. I doubt very much that it would be a good investment.
A standard 10 gram letter to the USA would cost £1.05. Since this would not be a single stamp, the cost will vary as prices rise in both countries.
It’s going back to 49c later this month. (1/22?) It was an extraordinary rare occurrence to have the first class rate actually drop. It was due to an emergency temporary boost being granted and then expiring.
Unfortunately, these permanently valid 1st class (or global mail) stamps are called “Forever stamps” by our postal service. They do not indicate what class postage they are (with the exception of the previous mentioned global stamps (what one used to call air mail). They have a habit of being outliers and refusing to follow other countries exactly when they copy their practices. Most countries put a “1st” on their permanent stamps. Canada puts a “P” inside a little maple leaf. We unimaginatively use the word “forever”. It’s an albatross around stamp artists necks, often interfering or detracting from the design. And it has the unfortunate jingoistic appearance of shouting “forever usa”,
This is how the post offices makes all its profits. Well, this and extended warranties.
I rather stopped using personal mail when they moved from weight as price criteria to size of envelope. * Plus the wretched people have fully privatised the Royal Mail, and I have no wish to support private companies masquerading as ‘Royal’.
A Forever stamp is presumed to have a postal value equal to the cost of mailing one first class single weight letter. Currently, I think, 47c. Larger or heavier mailings will have a quoted rate, which you can use Forever stamps to make up. So six Forever stamps would be enough for a mailing that has a quoted rate of 6x47, or $2.82
If you have some Forever stamps, and you have to mail anything other than a <1 oz letter, first find out the value of a Forever stamp at mailing time, call it X. Then calculate what stamps you need as if that Forever stamp was fixed at the X value.
For example, if the postage for your package is 2.00, and Forever stamps are currently worth .49, then you will need 4 of them plus 4 cents more. Or one of them plus $1.51. What you paid for the stamps originally is of no concern.
If you are mailing outside of the USA, never use Forever stamps and you won’t be sorry. Foreigners just don’t understand. 
:dubious: This doesn’t fly at my US Post Office. I mail a package a couple times a month, and they count those as 47c, not 49. Is your experience different? 
Check with your PO again. Or show them the official USPO site link. A Forever stamp is worth, now, what a 1st Class Letter less than 1 oz costs to mail now.
How would they know what you originally paid for it?
You mean that you are too stingy to send letter or cards. Bet your dear old [insert valued relative here] just loves that e-card you sent her.
I would like to modify my last post. There is a postcard forever stamp that says “postcard” without the word “forever”, without any printed monetary value, and it can be used for postcard mailing (domestic USA only) in the same manner as the first class Forever one. I assume that it is also valued at the current postcard rate just like the first class letter one is.
I made the mistake of buying several hundred forever postcard stamps not long ago, and their value went down by 2 cents each shortly after. However, they could still be used to mail a postcard, and soon they will be worth what I paid for them.
That is because the current rate for a one-ounce domestic First Class letter is 47 cents, not 49 cents. The fact that you may have paid 49 cents for the stamps a couple of years ago is of no concern. That is exactly what Musicat said.
There is now an international Forever Stamp, called the “Global Forever® stamp.” It is round and features a picture of the Moon.
The line through the word “Forever” on the global stamp is weird. I suppose it’s there for style, but it looks like the word is crossed out.
The line isn’t on the actual stamp. USPS policies require drawing a line through the denomination when publishing an image of a stamp if the stamp is reproduced within 75% to 150% of the actual size of the stamp. If you go to the Post Office (or order online) and buy the stamp, the line will not be there.