# What's this splodgy thing that lives in the corner where the stamp goes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339 "2005-02-16T11:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Iceland\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Iceland\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iceland_Blue)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/1 "2005-02-16T11:39:21Z")
I got a very nice Dopervalentine from America šŸ˜ƒ thankyou However in the corner where the stamp normally lives is a sticky label-part of it is stating where it was sent,the amount etc. all printed out.The other half is what looks like a violent explosion of black and white.It seems to be a random collection of black and white threads of different lengths and sides-something digital for a barcoder to read? šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/2 "2005-02-16T15:12:07Z")
Itā€™s an online postage thingie. The USPS allows you to print out postage from the Internet. But they want to prevent fraud: since it has to be black and white to work with all printers, making a copy of it is simple. The black bar is designed so a copy would blur it, making it unusable. The post office will check each of these with a scanner; if the blotches arenā€™t right, it gets rejected. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/3 "2005-02-16T16:38:28Z")
Not to hijack, but whatā€™s the deal with books of stamps (in the US.) They always ahve that one area where there is no stamp, but instead is some weird sticker with concentric rings? What gives? Why no put a stamp there? Or just put nothing there? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/4 "2005-02-16T17:04:57Z")
Books of stamps usually contain 20 stamps. Some ā€œbooksā€ these days are often a single strip, three wide, seven deep. That leaves spaces for 21 stamps. The sticker is there instead of the 21st stamp. ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/5 "2005-02-16T17:46:04Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Books of stamps usually contain 20 stamps. Some ā€œbooksā€ these days are often a single strip, three wide, seven deep. That leaves spaces for 21 stamps. The sticker is there instead of the 21st stamp. Maybe they should make them four wide, five deep, and obviate the problem completely. The non-stamp space has bugged me for years. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/6 "2005-02-16T17:55:18Z")
Maybe then they wouldnā€™t fit in vending machinesā€¦? ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/7 "2005-02-16T18:07:08Z")
Errā€¦ excuse my ignorance, but couldnā€™t someone just print it twice? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/8 "2005-02-16T18:35:50Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > Errā€¦ excuse my ignorance, but couldnā€™t someone just print it twice? Well, I havenā€™t researched it any, nor have I actually used the system myself - so I could be waaay off base here - but, I imagine thereā€™s some sort of server-side application on the USPS website which does the actual printing, and nothing is displayed onscreen for a clever user to capture. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/9 "2005-02-16T22:57:39Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > They always ahve that one area where there is no stamp, but instead is some weird sticker with concentric rings? What gives? That is the Secret Stamp. Use that stamp if you need to send a letter directly to the head of the Illuminati. Of course, the concentric design subjects the user to hypnosis thus making them forget everything about the letter they just sent, so you may have been using them frequently for some time now. Beyond that, Iā€™m not at liberty to say. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-splodgy-thing-that-lives-in-the-corner-where-the-stamp-goes/290339/10 "2005-02-17T02:24:01Z")
> [@LindyHopper](#): > > Maybe they should make them four wide, five deep, and obviate the problem completely. The non-stamp space has bugged me for years. Most stamp sheets are configured exactly that way. Buy sheets instead of books in the future, and put your mind at rest.