Two weeks ago I ranted that the US postal system has boring stamps. Part of this my problem was that my local PO was often out of the 44 cent commemorative stamps. Well I'm ready to retract most (not all) of my rant. Yesterday the nice PO clerk alerted to me to the fact that I can order stamps through a catalog of sorts, or on line. I checked out the US Postal Service on line store, and I can order older commemorative stamps - including ones I've never seen! And who knew the USPS offered stamped postcards with art related to the stamp issue?
So, you can send a postcard with the beautiful Kelp forest art, and the stamp is preprinted on it. This is a lot nicer than the blank postcards with a printed stamp!
Philatelists may have been aware of this, but I sure wasn't.
What's the cost? All stamps are sold at face value. A booklet of 10 Kelp Forest postcards is $8.95, or 45 cents for the postcard, 44 cents for the postage. A Scenic landscapes booklet of 20 cards is $14.95, or about 46 cents for the postcard, 28 cents for the postage.
Not bad! OK then, what's the shipping and handling charge - $10.95 or something? No, S&H is ONE dollar for any size order, $3 for special orders (whatever that entails).
Edited to add: It's $1 shipping for stamps and pre-stamped postcards. The PO store sells other things like stamp collecting supplies, framed prints, etc. and there will be the typical shipping charge for these items.
Well, I'm off to order some more Chinese New Year stamps, some postcard booklets and the sheet of Abstract Expressionists stamps that was just released.... Look out Postcrossers!
But, there is still only one design for the international airmail 98 cent stamp.
viridian
14 comments:
How very beautiful! Thanks for your informative post--I learned something new today!
Happy PFF!
Thanks for the information! I love "pretty stamps" but my post office is usually out of those when I finally show up. I'll remember to order them online next time! I'd like the post office to think out of the box (I HATE that phrase but it works here) and give us some shapes: triangles, circles...
Great to know! I was lucky enough to get some of the kelp forest stamps (beautiful), but when I went to get stamps yesterday, there wasn't a huge selection.
Thanks for the tip!
The stamps they are issuing in April look interesting too.
Good to know. I didn't know about the postcard stamps...I'll have to remember that.
WOW those are great. Think I my go see what I need to order. Thanks for a wonderful share today.
Cheers!
Thanks for all the info. Just what I need, another place to shop! :D :D Happy PFF!
very informative! I'll have to check this out and see what old stamps I missed.
I just purchased the Chinese New Year stamps last week, they're quite lovely.
The kelp forest looks rather luscious. How much fun with stamps will you have now. I always order my GB stamps on-line for the same reason.
Oh! I always ask for the beautiful decorative or interesting stamps for our mail...even to send out our bills. so thank you for the info!
Blessings & Aloha!
Thanks for the tidbits of info. I'm just so lazy that I use the forever stamp for everything... Boring but it works!
It's very similar in the UK, but I generally buy at our local post office where they are easy enough to find, at least the more recent ones. However, unlike the commenter above, I can't bring myself to use pretty stamps on ordinary letters. The nice ones are saved for Postcrossing wherever possible. I get around the fact that most of the commemoratives are for inland use by buying a lot of odd make-up values.
Happy PFF!
And thanks for stopping by!
XOXO LOLA:)
I have always loved postage stamps.. I use those I take off old letters soak them and put them on large old carboard cylinders and decopage over them...using then for pencils,etc. Great info for those who don't know you can order on line.
Elaine
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