I have a lot of stamps but they’re all Forever stamps. I only use the postcard reef stamps for domestic postcards. So I guess my question is why have all of my postcards made it to their destination with only a regular Forever stamp? Have I just been getting lucky? Or are regular Forever stamps just fine for 4x6 postcards?
If you have the correct amount of postage for the International rate, your cards will get there.
The international postcard rate is $1.45. If you are only putting one forever stamp then yes you got lucky. The stamps need to add to the international rate or over.
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I’ve sent 47 postcards. About half of those have been international and they’ve never not gotten to their destination. That’s why I’m confused.
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All of your postcards have made it with a forever stamp. Half of your cards have not.
Which is it?
I’ve sent 47 cards. All 47 have made it to their destinations domestic and international. This is why I’m wondering about the stamps I’m using. I’ve never sent something out that didn’t get registered. But I’ve been using the Hubble Telescope Forever stamps.
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Probably because of the stamp tagging. À la johnbradleytlh:
Fun fact: US sorting machines can only tell if there is a tagged stamp, not its value. All stamps 10¢ and above are tagged. So you can send a letter with just a 10¢ stamp (or a large postcard with the regular sized postcard rate), and 90% of the time it’ll go through. Only when the underpaying happens to be caught by a postal clerk will it be returned or held at the post office until the recipient pays the postage due.
So basically you’ve put Forever stamps which are tagged on postcards headed abroad, but the machine can’t distinguish between Forever and International Forever stamps; it just sees it’s tagged and says, “OK this is valid.” As far as I know (not a lawyer), if you do this intentionally in large enough quantities, you might get caught by a postmaster somewhere and have to face the USPIS for mail fraud. Take this with a grain of salt of course, but I would recommend paying the right amount in the future lol
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Sorry, I misread your post.
International letters and postcards currently require two Forevers and an additional 19¢. In July, when the rate changes, it will be two Forevers and 18¢.
My current configuration for $1.45 international postcards and letters (1oz) is three postcard stamps and one $0.01 stamp. There’s a lot of versatility because I can do a sailboat, a coral fish, and a barn and show people a lot. I do the three postcard stamps across the top over the address and the 1c stamp below the corner postcard stamp.
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International cards need more than one Forever stamp. In fact, they need two plus an extra 19 cents!
If you didn’t include a return address, then those missing cards are stuck in dead mail. 
They made it to their destination. I’ve never had a card go unregistered.
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Oh! My bad, I misread your comment (oops).
But, for future reference, you want to make sure you have the correct postage! It can be fun making different combinations. There could also be a chance that a kind postal worker has been paying for the other 82 cents in postage.
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I’ll definitely do it right this time. Before this I’d never sent mail that wasn’t a big package and everyone around me thought the 1 stamp was fine. I went and picked up a roll so it won’t happen again.
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For international mailing from the US, I always use 2 “forever’s”, a 10 cent, a 5 cent, and a 4 cent for a total of $1.45. It works the same for both a card or a card in an envelope. I always get thanks for the beautiful stamps. (I saw a PostCrossing survey once that suggested that the US had the most boring stamps. That is true if you only use the international rate stamps.) You could also use 3 “postcard” stamps and a 1 cent stamp to reach $1.45. … Bob
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