So just now on CNN they mentioned a proposed 2-cent hike in postage. I have no problem with this. However, they also mentioned coming out with a “Forever Stamp”, which you could buy at current postal rates and use at any point in the future.
This is what I do now with those American-flag “First Class” stamps they always put out before stamps with the new rates come out (sometimes ATMs are stocked with these). I buy a bunch and then use them until they run out, sometimes even after the next postage hike.
I wondered the same thing. First class stamps have always been good “forever”. You can use any of them that you or your great-grandmother ever bought at any time. However, you are supposed to make sure that the combination of stamps that you are using makes it up to the current first-class rates. The postal service has long issued stamps in between rates without a value attached for the transition.
However, I always understood that these stamps did have the max rate of whatever the new first class rate is going to be even if it isn’t marked. It sounds like you could just go to the post office and buy all of your stamps for the rest of your life once these “forever” stamps are issued but I can’t be sure.
You aren’t supposed to do that. You’re supposed to make up the difference. Those flag stamps look the same but they are a little different from one time to the next.
The Forever stamps are supposed to work that way for real. So why buy anything other than Forever stamps anymore?
This would seem to signal the end of advance announcement of postal rate increases. I suppose that at 11:59 PM eastern time it will be announceg that starting tomorrow postal rates will be …
We have those in Canada already. They’re only good for domestic mail - you still need to buy regular stamps to send mail internationally. Still, I could theoretically go out today and buy 200 “permanent” stamps, and be able to use them for decades. I think it’s a great idea, if only because I hate having to go out and buy a bunch of 1c or 2c stamps to add to whatever stamps I have left over from last year.
The concept of “first class” stamps is foreign to me - if you have some from 5 years ago, do you need to add extra postage to make up the difference for the new rates? If so, how are those different from regular stamps?
Yeah but … the proposed increase is only 5% of the present rate and that profit is gained over a, what?, three or four year period? Not a great return.
“Regular” stamps are first-class. First class in the U.S. is for private, single-piece mail. Second class is for published material, third-class is for non-priority bulk mailings and fourth-class is for packages.
And yes, you put on extra postage to make up the difference when you use old stamps.
Cynical, the Flag stamps don’t have an amount marked on them, but they are marked A, B, C and so on. The letter represents the cost they were sold at, and you still need to put extra postage on with the old ones.
[QUOTE=AntigenThe concept of “first class” stamps is foreign to me - if you have some from 5 years ago, do you need to add extra postage to make up the difference for the new rates? If so, how are those different from regular stamps?[/QUOTE]
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The nominal value of the stamps must add up to the current rate for a first class letter, or $.39 - if you had stamps from 50 years ago (I think rates stayed relatively stable for a long time), a 3 cent stamp say, it is today only valid for 3 cents, not for mailing a letter, as it would have done for Grandmother. A “forever” stamp would save the consumer this bit of silliness.
There is some amount of time between when the USPS announces new rates and when they go into effect. During this time, the USPS is (still) unable to print the new value stamps and get them distributed to the right channels. So, what they do is pre-print “First Class” stamps with no number value on it. As kunilou stated, they instead have a letter on it that has been sequential with every rate increase. This letter corresponds to the new postage rate. Eventually these “First Class” stamps are removed from the market, and replaced with stamps with the current rate on it.
If you happen to have some old unused “First Class” stamps, you can look up it’s value by the letter and add the appropriate postage to whatever the current rate is.
[QUOTE=AntigenThe concept of “first class” stamps is foreign to me - if you have some from 5 years ago, do you need to add extra postage to make up the difference for the new rates? If so, how are those different from regular stamps?[/QUOTE]
USFirst Class mail generally is mail that can contain a message. If you want to put in a message you must use First Class mail. Otherwise you can use parcel post or other than First Class mail. Large scale mailers of literature, advertising and the like, can contract with the postal service for bulk mail rates. And yes, with old first class stamps you must add postage to bring the total up to the present rate.
Ok, I understand now (and thanks for the lesson on classes of mail, too!), but I don’t really see why they bother printing up a bunch of “blank” stamps while waiting for the rate increase. Why not just keep the ones with the old rate on them until the rate changes?
Here, Canada Post announces that the rates will change, say, January 1st. Soon after the announcement, stamps with the new rate will become available at post offices, but in the meantime you can still just buy stamps at the old rate. If you have some left over after January 1st, well, add a 1c stamp to it (or whatever you need for the difference). Why complicate things by printing a third set of stamps in between?
Well, it may interest you to know that Canada has done the same thing in the past.
I remember back in the late 70s, when a 17c stamp would send your card or letter anywhere in Canada or the US. Then, in the early 80s, Canada Post decided that postal rates needed to jump in a big way, and even more would be needed to send a card or letter to the US. But they didn’t know how much. So they came out with the “A stamp,” which could be preprinted and ready for sale when the new rates were announced. In the end, 30c was the domestic rate, and A stamps were on sale immediately for that amount.
Me, I like the idea of a “permanent stamp.” I always end up having to buy a number of one-cent stamps every year, just to add to the previous year’s that I didn’t use. But this year, I can still use last year’s 51c stamps without extra postage. Good news.
This caught me completely by surprise. I went across the road to get some stamps, and requested a booklet of domestic stamps, and to my surprise got ones marked “P” instead of 51c or whatever the rate is.
I vaguely remember the A stamp. I think it was around when I was at university in 1981-1982.
Once a rate increase is announced, and before it goes into effect, go to the post office and buy and bunch of stamps to make up the difference. In other words, if the rate is going to 41 cents, buy a bunch of 2 cent stamps before the increase.
The 2-cent stamps will be hard to find the week the increase goes into effect, but several months in advance you can easily get them and watch as others complain that they can’t get the right stamps.
WHAT!!! 41 cents to send my letter from LA to NY? How dare they! And just exactly what are they spending all this money on? I’m sure it’s on all those welfare mothers who deliver the mail.
Just to note that stamps used for international mail must have the actual value of the stamp printed on it. That’s why the letter-rate or other “first class” stamps can only be used internally.
Because it’s twice as much work to have to put 2 stamps on the letter instead of one. And if you’re a business sending out a lot of mail, and paying someone to prepare those letters, that is costing you money to have to put on 2 stamps.
Reminds me of an old MadTV sketch in which a postal customer complained about the (then new) 34 cent postage rate.
“Hon, if you can find someone else to deliver yo’ letter to its final destination for thirty-fo’ cents… be mah guest!!”
I feel like such a rebel abusing the “First Class” stamps.