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!
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!
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.
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
I wouldn’t be so suprised, happened to me
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.
Do you put ‘via UK’ at the end of an Isle of Man address?
I understand it’s not part of UK, of course. But just for the sake of usps forwarding it to the correct region?
Thanks!
Yesterday I bought the Global Forever in a copy shop that also had the USPS logo on their door (not an official USPS office though, they also had the DHL logo). They charged me $2.00 per stamp! Today I was in the official USPS office in town and asked just to be sure, and the woman at the counter said they are $1.55 per. Is it common that other venders sell the stamps at a higher price?
Yes, that’s fairly common. (And perfectly legal, if you’re wondering.)
Sorry that happened to you though, overpaying without knowing must feel like being cheated!
Thank you.
Yes, very annoying since I bought 10 stamps and that’s almost 5 dollars I overpaid! Lesson learned: First and last time buying stamps outside of the USPS office.
I send those bigger cards often. They were sold at the post office and the image is old stamps. They need more postage for donestic use but travel overseas at regular international rate
Does anyone know if it costs extra to use transparent postcard sleeves?
Yes, it’s supposed to be non machineable. So $1.12 is the current butterfly stamp value.
The nonmachinable surcharge is added to First-Class Mail® with any of the following criteria:
For pieces more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long, the thickness is less than 0.009 inch
The length divided by height is less than 1.3 or more than 2.5 (length is the dimension parallel to the address)
It is poly-bagged, poly-wrapped, enclosed in any plastic material, or has an exterior surface made of a material that is not paper
Just don’t take any wooden nickels!
Hello! I just got a bunch of 10 cent stamps and now I am panicking. Am I actually allowed to put stamps all along the top? Will the machine count some and not others? I have seen stamps like that, but does USPS allow it? I can’t find the information anywhere! Please help!
YES! USPS allows any type or amount of stamps that total at least the required amount. So, right now, 53 cents for domestic postcards and $1.55 for international. You can use more but make sure not less! I usually use a mix of stamps - just check on the USPS website to keep up with the ever changing values! Oh, and go from the top, right corner - making sure to leave space for the address AND the bar code the USPS puts along the bottom right. Have fun!
