Don't pay full price for postage
This article first appeared in my October 31, 2003 newsletter, when the first-class US postage rate was 37-cents.
How many US pennies does it take for a software developer to buy first class (37-cent) postage? 33.3!
In the US, it's easy to find old, distinctive postage stamps to make your postal-mailing stand out from the crowd. In direct mail, the trick is to get the envelope noticed and opened.
The signs of bulk mail (now called "standard mail" are
(a) bulk mail stamps, meters, or indicia,
(b) punctuation-free, upper-case addresses, and
(c) indications that the envelope was processed without being touched by a human being.
Discount postage won't save you money
Using discount postage is not a money-saver, if you put any value on your time. The stamps that you'll buy typically require moistening (versus the more modern peel-and-stick stamps). And while there are a lot of easy-to-find combinations that add up to today's 37-cent postage rate (34 plus 3, 33 plus 4, 29 plus 8, 25 plus a block of 3's, 22 plus 15), it still takes a lot more time than you'd think to use discount postage. And you'll have to buy a bunch of odd values from the Post Office to convert all of your discount postage into usable postage.
Most discount postage is marketed by stamp dealers. When they buy, say, a $5,000 stamp collection from an estate, they typically find that $3,000 of the collection has no philatelic or investment value. There are mint sheets, strips, plate blocks, and singles that they're willing to sell at a discount, simply to get back the bulk of their investment immediately.
Buy discount postage carefully
I am not a lawyer, but this is my understanding of the legal issues: It's illegal to find envelopes that you've received in the mail whose stamps haven't been postmarked, and reuse those stamps. You can find online auctions for this type of "unused, ungummed" US postage. It's probably legal to add these stamps to your stamp collection. But if you paste them onto envelopes and give those envelopes to the US Post Office, you can get into serious trouble.
To ensure that you're buying legal discount postage, look for phrases like "post office fresh", "full gum", and "mnh", the philatelic acronym for "mint never hinged". If the stamps have been sitting in somebody's desk or safe and the gum is intact, then they're probably legal.
Try Joe Kenton, PO Box 480456, Kansas City, MO 64148-0456. If you're in the US, send him a check for $33.30 and he'll send you a packet of $37 face value. He pays the postage, and he won't include any oddball stamps that you can't use for ordinary postage (for example, fractionals, postage dues, or denominations higher than 37 cents).
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