# Re-using a stamp? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2001, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100 "2001-01-09T02:40:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/21 "2001-01-09T20:46:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Podkayne \* > \*\*Imagine that someone I really dislike has sent me a wedding invitation, including a stamped envelope for the RSVP. Being the cad I am, I’m not going to bother to RSVP that I’m not coming. Also, being stingy, I’m going to remove the stamp from the envelope and glue it to another envelope to mail my phone bill. > > Is that legal? > \*\* [glances around sheepishly] Welcome to the Stingy Cad Club! I do this too. Yes, it’s perfectly legal as long as the stamp hasn’t been cancelled (and why would it be, unless the person who’s inviting you to the wedding is as stingy as you are and glued cancelled stamps to all her RSVP envelopes…) It isn’t that it’s illegal to use glue or tape to affix a stamp to an envelope. It’s just that it usually makes the stamp too fat to fit properly in the cancellation machine. The machine will then spit it out for “hand stamping”, which leaves it at the tender mercies of some bad-tempered mail clerk who then gets to decide whether to hand-stamp it, or return it to sender (you) for re-postaging. Guess which one he’s going to choose. Don’t use Scotch tape to stick it onto the envelope. The cancellation ink won’t “whomp” onto it correctly as it goes through the machine, and the machine will send it to the hand-stamping clerk. Don’t use a rolled-up circle of inside-out tape, either. This makes the stamp too fat to fit into the cancellation machine, and it’s “hand stamping” time. Soak it carefully off the RSVP envelope, let it dry thoroughly, then use a TINY bit of Elmer’s glue (just the merest film) to glue it on the envelope. You want to avoid big lumpy blobs of dried glue, which also screw up the cancellation machine, which means–guess what? That’s right, the “hand stamping” clerk. Since Elmer’s glue tends to curl up the paper somewhat, you might want to weight it down with a book or something to make sure it dries absolutely flat. Why? So it doesn’t screw up the cancellation machine, of course… Make sure the glue is thoroughly dry before you drop it in the mailbox, unless you want it to pick up all kinds of interesting passengers, in the form of other people’s mail. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/22 "2001-01-09T21:42:42Z")
Er, **Duck Duck Goose** , you’re an odd one. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sengkelat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/23 "2001-01-09T22:52:57Z")
I once was mailing bills and inadvertently stuck a stamp on the wrong envelope. I figured it was no big deal, and I tore out a section of the envelope and used a glue stick to affix the scrap (with the stamp) onto the correct envelope. All perfectly good and fine, as far as I could tell – there’s no regulation that says you can’t have an envelope with a bit of extra paper stuck to it, and the stamp on top of that. Of course, the bill came back. It had a big form-stamp on it that said something like “The post office will not deliver mail with a stamp that’s been cancelled coated forged hand drawn with a crayon by a dyslexic weasel etc” And there was a check mark by “coated”. I figured they must have thought that some friend of mine had sent me a letter with a specially coated, non-cancellable stamp, and I was re-using it. Which is odd, since the stamp wasn’t coated at all, and they’d managed to successfully cancel the darn thing, so it couldn’t possibly be coated. Given that the bill was now going to be late, and my friends at FirstUSA were going to raise my interest rate, and I didn’t want to go to the (useless) effort of suing the postal service, I decided to do the next best thing: I went to argue with the postmaster. The postmaster was very nice, and told me that they thought I must be re-using a stamp that had gone through the mail already. He said “You know that it’s a fresh stamp, and I know it’s a fresh stamp, but the workers in back don’t know that, so that’s why it didn’t go through.” He acted as if that was the important part. After a half hour of arguing, I finally told him “Look, you said yourself that you know that it’s legitimate postage, so why don’t you fix it so it gets mailed?” In exasperation he went in back and came back out five minutes later with a giant chunk of paper folded and taped and glued over the stamp corner, with a new stamp on it, purchased out of his own pocket. I felt a little bad about that part; the point wasn’t to cow some government worker into parting with some of his hard-earned salary, but to make the system deliver my darn letter. Still, it was good enough to get my letter delivered. The moral of this story is threefold: First, never say “you know, and I know, but…” because some bastard is likely to hold you to it. Instead say “You’re a darn crook, I could tell by your beady little eyes. Now get out of my sight!” Works every time. Second, it’s evident that some people have too much time on their hands, and are willing to expend it arguing, instead of doing something productive or fun. Third, sometimes you can fight the system and not really win, but still be enough of a pain in the ass to make someone else shell out $0.33. And if there is a practical lesson to be learned, it’s that one should peel the stamp very carefully off an envelope and re-stick it, rather than just ripping a big bunch of the envelope. Or to generalize, if you’re going to be bad, be sneaky, and if you’re going to be good but it looks like you’re being bad, then definitely be sneaky. Okay, having posted this, I’ve now wasted an _entire_ hour on that one stamp, instead of just the half hour I’d wasted arguing. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/24 "2001-01-10T00:45:20Z")
Some of you people seriously need to get a raise or something. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/25 "2001-01-10T20:06:49Z")
For such a banal topic, this has turned out to be a pretty funny thread. The Post Office moves in Mysterious Ways. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/26 "2001-01-10T20:41:40Z")
I’ve been holding a large (large enough to hold a sheet of paper unfolded) envelope for just that reason. It has $2.31 in uncanceled postage–a neat $2 bobcat stamp, three 10¢ Chief Red Cloud stamps, and a one-cent American Kestrel. Not a trace of a cancellation anywhere on the envelope. Oh, well. . . . ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/27 "2001-01-10T21:18:08Z")
This isn’t about stamps, but about those franking machines that you use in offices. If you frank an envelope and then don’t use it, you can’t use it a week later because the Post Office checks the dates. You **can** bring the envelope to the post office to get some sort of credit, I think. Ok, carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/28 "2001-01-10T21:48:10Z")
Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I’ve never confessed this before, but - 25 years ago, My boyfriend and I exchanged letters re-using the same stamp over and over by putting scotch tape over it. Always went through, and we never got caught. What is my penance? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/29 "2001-01-10T23:11:17Z")
Well, didja marry him and live happily ever after in the suburbs with 2.5 kids and a dog and a station wagon? Ah ha, you see? God saw what you did and punished you. He was Mr. Right, and you screwed it up by screwing the Post Office. I hope you’ve learned your lesson. [insert finger-wagging emoticon] 😃 (It went through each time 'cause they didn’t have cancellation machines back then. But _God_ was still watching…) ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/30 "2001-01-10T23:32:47Z")
Well, I had to go look this up to make sure, but **Vix** is correct. You’re supposed to mail postage-metered mail on the same date that’s printed on the postmark. So, all you secretaries, don’t let Friday’s outgoing mail ride around in the car with you all weekend–drop it in a mailbox on Friday night. [http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm/p030.htm](http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm/p030.htm) > [@](#): > > 4.11 Date Accuracy > > The date in a meter postmark must be the actual date of deposit, except that: > > a. Postage meter mail deposited after the day’s last scheduled collection may bear the actual date of deposit or the date of the next scheduled collection. > > b. Authorized dispatch prepared presort mail accepted after midnight may bear the previous day’s date. This means: a. Postage meter mail dropped in the mailbox after the last collection on Friday can have either Friday’s or Saturday’s postmark on it. b. Authorized presorted mail (your company signs up for this) dropped off at the Post Office on Friday (usually in big boxes in the trunk of your car) can have Thursday’s postmark on it. And yes, you can get credit for unused postage, if you’re the sort of person who can keep track of the envelope long enough to truck it down to the Post Office and fill out the form. Usually it’s the Office Manager who gets stuck with this. She’s the one who has to go down there and pay for the next month’s postage anyway. > [@](#): > > 3.7 Postage Transfer or Refund > > After USPS verification, unused postage in a meter being checked out of service may be transferred to another of the licensee’s meters licensed at the same post office, or the licensee may request a refund, which may include a refund for unused meter stamps according to applicable standards. The meter must be examined by the USPS before a refund or credit is initiated for unused postage or additional postage is collected, based on what is found. The licensee may also submit Form 3602-A, if kept, or a system-generated register as supporting documentation. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100/31 "2001-01-10T23:44:20Z")
…and the Better Half is reading this over my shoulder, and he says yeah, as a matter of fact, they just recently sent back twelve or fifteen hundred dollars worth of presorted postage meter mail to some company here, because they didn’t drop it off at the Post Office in time. Geez. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-using-a-stamp/49100.md?page=1)