Thanks so much for your reply, @Alberto99 ! What you describe about Italy is the same in the US, except that we can use stamps back to the original issue date. Although of course the older the stamp is, the more rare or expensive it could be. The oldest stamps I use on Official cards, lately, have been the 1946 #933 – 1946 5c Roosevelt and Four Freedoms and the U.S. #952 3¢ Everglades National Park.
I don’t know the ages of some of my stamps that well. I have some others from the 1940s but perhaps not too many much older. The 1940s is probably it. All are still valid postage!
Yes, in Cyprus you have to include the refugee stamp.
However, as a cover collector, I have come to realise that unfortunately you can send an envelope anywhere in the world without a single stamp on it and it would still be delivered. Of course, as long as you drop it in the mail box and not give it to a clerk at the post office.
Oh, and once I received a postcard (can’t recall from which country) on which the sender used stickers instead of stamps
In Malaysia there’s no such restrictions, but nowadays we have a shortage of certain low denomination stamps, so usually if we need 30 sen more of stamps, 10 sen and 30 sen denominations are not available at several post offices near me so I have to use exactly the same 20+5+5 for all of my cards fortunately the latest stamp issue has a 30 sen denomination so for awhile many people will be receiving train stamps
Actually we can use older stamps to make up that 30 sen value but I can barely find any that are sold at face value so it doesn’t make money sense for me to buy then lol
I am from the USA and I have tried to use the other Forever stamps up to the cost of the Global stamp. I took it to the post office confirmed I had enough postage on the cards and mailed them. They never arrived. I resent postcards using the Global stamp and they arrived to the people. I don’t know how to make the regular stamps work in the USA. I have told the postal worker it was going to “Spain” and they look it up say it will cost $1.50 check that I have $1.50 on the card and take it. Yet, it doesn’t arrive. Perhaps when using regular stamps we need a global sticker? I wish we had more options for Global Stamps.
Mine have arrived with 2 Forevers + the extra postage, but some don’t arrive. I started getting worried the PO think they are fake? Now I am hesitant to use the older gummed stamps.
Then again, our PO is a hot mess in general, so who knows if it’s the stamps or not.
Could you try dropping off the stamped cards in a blue box or a post office in a different town? The fact that only the globals arrived is just bad luck and confirmation bias, I’m afraid. Using stamp combos to reach $1.50 is perfectly valid, and ppl do it successfully all the time.
Hi I live in Belgium
It has been possible to sent a postcard with 2 stamps value 1 to America because the value would have been a little higher then the World stamp.
But since the prices have increased 2 stamps with value 1 are now a few cents below value of a world stamp
Some post office make no trouble about it but some do…
Italian stamps are forever stamps too, with a letter and not the price to indicate their value.
But, as Alberto99 said, the important thing is the total stamp value. So you can combine and add stamps, even very old one. You just need their sum to reach the rate for where you are sending.
It’s almost the same here in Chile: we have stamps with different values, but you can combine any stamps to make the desired postage rate. There’s no stamps with “rate zones” or something like that, and technically you can use any stamp which has its amount in pesos (the Chilean currency since 1975), but it’s very uncommon to use stamps issued before 2010.
fortunately the latest stamp issue has a 30 sen denomination so for awhile many people will be receiving train stamps
I live in Belgium