I’m not a philatelist but I have a 2007 Star Wars 30th anniversary sheet of fifteen 41 cent stamps. Why did I save this, I am so very not interested in this movie saga at all! Must’ve been an idea to use for nephews gifts checks but lay forgotten at the bottom of a desk drawer.
Though could still be a cool gift for a SW collector. Not mint it’s folded in half.
Also saved a sheet of lunar New Year forever stamps c2012 year of the rabbit. But the stamps are oranges, pretty though, edged in gold with a rabbit figure in the corner.
They made millions of these and lots of people saved them. I know that you don’t think that they’ve appreciated much but they are worth only face value if that. So many people bought sheets of stamps like these and the Elvis stamps as an investment. Heirs will find drawers full of them and when they try to sell them they are lucky to get half of face value. No one cares about 1968 Olympic stamps or whatever but people who sell books on eBay or who mail catalogs like to buy them at a steep discount.
2020, perhaps? Although COVID-19 got its start in 2019, hence the number, especially in the US it did not get noticed by the public until February or March. I remember because my birthday is in March and at the restaurant for my birthday dinner every other booth was taped off to enforce spacing.
I used up my last stamp and got a new sheet just yesterday. Now I’m curious so I’ll follow your lead.
When I was in the navy circa 1975 I collected stamps because time hung heavy and it was a relatively compact and light-weight pastime. I’d buy a pound of stamps on paper from a dealer, soak them off, sort them, and sell the extras (a bazillion Eisenhower 8-cent stamps) back to the dealer for about half what the next pound would cost.
Once when I was doing this I mused out loud where the dealer got them. My roommate who was religious said, “Church groups! My aunt and all her friends clip them from the letters they get and hand them in to the church as a donation.”
I held up a stamp that had been cut too close through the stamp itself and said, “Tell your aunt to be more careful!” before tossing it in the trash.
I just mailed my annual piece of (non-Christmas) snail mail with my annual check. My driveway plowing service charges a discounted rate if you renew the service before the end of May. They accept e-transfer and CC payments but will also accept post-dated cheques, so I pay like this because it’s 6 months more before I’m actually charged. I still have five regular stamps left in my current stash.
I also have a few Christmas stamps, which will be used for the two dozen Christmas cards I still mail out each December.
Other than that, I haven’t written a cheque or used a stamp for years. Even my furnace/AC maintenance guy and the hedge trimmers scheduled for next month accept debit card tap payments on their cell phones.
Wow, now there’s a blast from the past. I’m amazed your plowing service is willing to extend the discount despite you not actually paying them until Nov. I’m also surprised they’re happy to have the hassle of storing a pile of customer’s checks, each with a different post-date.
My late wife was a banking attorney. I vaguely recall some kerfuffle she got involved in one time where somebody had written a check for a substantial amount that was also post-dated by a substantial duration. The recipient deposited it promptly anyhow and all the banks in the chain ignored the post-date & simply processed the check.
Great finger pointing and gnashing of teeth ensued. Several lawyers wrote sternly-worded letters to one another.
Sadly I can’t dredge up who got left holding the bag but I believe when the screaming subsided the check-writer learned that post-dating is not actually a legally enforceable restriction on a negotiable instrument. At least not in the USA; More civilized countries to our North may differ.
Predating is another thing all together. Many years ago my stepmother wrote the “kids” a Hanukkah gift check with the previous year. When I took it to the bank it was over a year old according to the date and the teller told me that she couldn’t deposit it. I changed the last digit of the year at home and brought it in and all was good.
Since I do Mail Art, and still enjoy writing the occasional long, illustrated-and-decorated missive to a friend, I probably go through more stamps and postcards in a year than any two or even three other posters on this thread. Always have a stash of blank postcards, and stamps in both letter and postcard denominations, somewhere at hand, although both of my personal postal pastimes are becoming more niche by the week. When the Postal Service and surface mail finally go away, I’ll be one of the last holdout users, and I’m gonna be sad to see them go.
Checks, on the other hand–I receive my monthly payment via Direct Deposit and have received very few actual checks in the last several years, and not written one in twenty or more (even though my bank account is still called a checking account) Mainly because I prefer using cash for most of my purchases, and paying my rent with a money order that goes on my ATM card.