Correct fun and quick combinations:
$1 + $.53 (postcard) + 2ct
$0.92 (2 ounces) + $0.53 (postcard) + 10ct
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Thank you great suggestion
Fwiw, my preferred combinations for international postage at this moment are either:
- Forever (68¢) + 2× 40¢ + 5¢ + 2¢; or
- Forever (68¢) + 2× 40¢ + 4¢ + 3¢.
It allows me to highlight a specific Forever stamp while also providing a decent variety of readily-available, low-denomination stamps.
Hi everyone!
There’s a pinned wiki post for stamp combinations if you’d like to share some of the ones you are currently using! Thank you 
Check this topic:
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I purchased a wooden postcard at a National park. The sales volunteer had worked for the post office and told me it was the same price as a regular letter. I think I may have put a little extra because I didn’t want to break up a set of postage. It arrived in China just fine. You could use the non- machinable stamp. I couldn’t find a pen that would work so I put labels on the one side. That may have helped hold it together. An episode of Exploring Stamps showed one that had broken in half.
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I didn’t think USPS allowed wooden postcards.
Minimum size is 3x5inches. I have seen smaller than that make it thru but it is really too small and can get lost. The maximum is about 12x15 inches. Both extremes incur a surcharge…smaller than 3x5 needs the non-machineable stamp or like postage added… makes it about $1.10 (postage just went up and i don’t have the current rate… it was 1.04) the cost to send something over about a half sheet size must be sent at a higher rate. It’s called a flat. The usps website has a price calculator…you input the destination zipcode or country, dimensions and weight and it tells you what the cost will be.
Is there any rhyme or reason to the delay in this delivery?
I ordered something from a small business in Michigan and they mailed it in a small padded envelope addressed to my office on January 9th. Here’s how it went:
1/10 15:42 USPS in possession of item in Troy, MI
1/11 02:39 item arrived at Detroit distribution center.
1/15 11:26 departed Detroit. 1/15 was the MLK federal holiday. Why it sat from Thursday, 1/11 until Monday, 1/15 and departed on a postal holiday is not clear.
1/15 18:38 arrived Chicago logistics center
1/16 02:10 departed Chicago
1/16 04:44 arrived Madison distribution center. That was quick!
1/17 06:10 out for delivery in Madison 53715. The mailroom at work has not seen it.
1/20 10:48 arrived Oak Creek distribution center (near Milwaukee, 90 miles east of Madison). Wait, what?!
1/21 01:07 arrived Oshkosh regional facility (100 mi NW of Oak Creek). Umm, why?
1/21 03:04 departed Oak Creek. How did it get back here?
1/21 05:06 arrived Madison distribution center. Ok, good.
1/22 n/t in transit to Next Facility. Uh, where would that be?
1/23 04:07 departed Oshkosh distribution center (90 miles NE of Madison). Not again!
1/24 03:38 arrived Madison distribution center. For the 3rd time.
1/24 03:57 arrived at USPS facility 53715. We’re getting closer!
1/24 04:57 arrived at Post Office 53715. Two blocks from my office.
1/24 08:17 delivered to PO Box. Not my PO Box. My company’s PO Box. Item was addressed to the street address of my office.
1/24 17:15 The mailroom at work didn’t have it. I went in person and asked the clerk to see if was still in the PO box. It was in a tote on the floor behind the counter at the PO two blocks from my office probably set to be delivered 1/25.
Fifteen days!!!
What a long strange trip it’s been! But, why?!
To go 440 miles which would be a 6.5 hour car ride. If someone had ridden their bicycle from Troy to Madison, they would have gotten here in just under 6 days.
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A friend mailed one of those NP wooden cards to me last summer and it arrived broken in half in a “we’re sorry” bag.
It sounds like they were trying to charge you for a large envelope/“flat” rate. They should probably be mailed as hand-cancel only and not put through the regular sorting process.
Regarding stamps with no official FDOI ceremony, are there any special unofficial events that might happen with a release?
I’m curious since the Celebration Blooms stamp say no ceremony, but the issue date is the same weekend as the St. Louis Stamp Expo (also the FDOI location).
Has anyone encountered difficulties when sending oversized postcards overseas?
I have a set of 5×7” postcards that I’d like to use as reply cards, but the USPS manual states that the maximum size for First-Class International cards is 4¼×6” (IMM 241.221).
And while the manual also states that oversized cards can be mailed at the First-Class International letter rate (IMM 241.221 note; nb, hilariously the same as the card rate), it also states that the maximum size for such oversized cards is 4¾×9¼”—unfortunately, a quarter-inch shorter than my 5×7” cards…
So, again, has anyone encountered difficulties when mailing such oversized postcards overseas?
@cassius1213 I’m not sure why it says that but I’ve been able to send large postcards at the first class int’l letter/postcard rate ($1.55) and it’s been fine!
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Thanks @ayellowdaffodil!
I didn’t expect that there’d be difficulties—that’d require a mail clerk or plant worker to really pull out the calipers for a quarter-inch overage—but I thought I’d ask the community first, just in case!
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In 2022, the U.S.P.S. processed and delivered 421 million pieces of mail per day (or 292,628 pieces per minute) so yes, I too would be shocked if a postal worker were to pull out a caliper to measure any particular piece of mail, especially if such an act were going to cut into his lunch break.
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maximum letter size is 6-1/8 x 11-1/2 so current international letter rate 1.55 is required.
I’ve sent even larger cards without issues
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I wouldn’t be so suprised, happened to me
5x7 card sent domestically with a postcard stamp instead of forever stamp. The card size doesn’t really matter internationally since the postcard and letter rate is the same.
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Yes, the card size doesn’t really matter internationally because rates are the same between cards and letters, so they probably woin’t quibble if the card size is over or undersized by a few millimeters. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if mail sent domestically within the U.S. (as yours was) and is affixed with postcard rate stamps isn’t automatically given extra scrutiny, both because mail that can be legitimately mailed with that rate, i.e., postcards, is fairly rare, relatively speaking, and also because the difference in postage between domestic first class letters and postcards (15 cents) is relatively significant, at least compared to international postage rates, where the difference between those rates is zero.
My guess is that you ran into a particularly zealous employee here who “caught” this.
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