.39 postage...

fbb819 · Post by **fbb819** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 1:38 pm

I was at the post office last week, and they already know what the new rate for 9X11 envelopes will be. (the new rate starts January 8th). Instead of 60 cents it is 63 cents. They don't have a new 63 cent stamp yet, but they still have the 60 and have the separate 3 cent one. I sent out a few with the postage expecting to not get it until next year.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:50 pm

Ok, so what is the lower rate which is currently only 49 cents? And the one above the currently 60 cent one? Because I'd like to go ahead and start using the new rates too for ones I know won't be here by Jan. 8th.

YOURS_SINCERELY · Post by **YOURS_SINCERELY** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 9:59 am

I would hardly call forgetting to put a stamp on an envelope a criminal offence, nor would I consider willfully not putting one on a (serious) offence either!!! The post office should be vigilant enough to reject the envelope (lets face it, they are getting paid for their services!!!), surely the postal service is adequete enough to deal with such matters!
This being said... I do not condone the practise of cheating the postal system, however at the same time sanity must prevail!

Just on the opposite side of the topic... I sent a letter (within Australia) the other week and my SSAE stamp was not cancelled!!! Needless to say, I shall be re-using the stamp for another letter.
THANKYOU 'AUSTRALIA POST' and Merry Christmas!!!!

Best of luck with your collections,

YOURS_SINCERELY

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:50 pm

I am not sure what the new rates are in the new year. Just ask the postal service. They will know even though they do not have the stamps.

As far as non-canceled out stamps, it's totally acceptable to use them. My post man has noticed and started putting an x through them with a sharpee from time to time. It's annoying seeing as they got to my front step without being marked, but like you said it is there job to put controls and stuff. So you cant fault him for doing his job and Xing it out.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:41 pm

Reuse of stamps with intent to cause loss to the government or the USPS is punishable by fine and imprisonment.

Is a silly 37 cent stamp or any other denomination really worth it? At the very least...is it really worth not getting that piece of mail delivered and getting into trouble to save a whopping 37 cents? I think if it really means that much to you, maybe you shouldn't be mailing for autographs. It can be an expensive hobby, but that's pretty apparent from the outset. And please don't think that because the stamp isn't cancelled that it's just fine to reuse. It's still fraud and ends up losing the postal service money, which in turn causes high postage!!! Forgetting to put a stamp on is one competely innocent thing, but trying to cheap the post office out of a whopping 2, 10, 37 or however many cents is just petty.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:46 pm

And I've asked my post office twice. They must not have a whole lot of 9x11 envelope business considering I asked two different people who didn't know. One said they THOUGHT the increase would be 13 (!?!?!?) cents and the other one admitted she didn't know.

ozzman · Post by **ozzman** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:28 pm

Oh give me a break. If my stamps are not cancelled out it is the post offices fault so therefore if they are stupid enough not to cancel out my stamps then I am stupid enough to use them again. I too have asked my post office about this and he said there is no problem as long as they are reusable.

TheCollector · Post by **TheCollector** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:22 pm

YOURS_SINCERELY wrote:I would hardly call forgetting to put a stamp on an envelope a criminal offence, nor would I consider willfully not putting one on a (serious) offence either!!! The post office should be vigilant enough to reject the envelope (lets face it, they are getting paid for their services!!!), surely the postal service is adequete enough to deal with such matters!
This being said... I do not condone the practise of cheating the postal system, however at the same time sanity must prevail!

Just on the opposite side of the topic... I sent a letter (within Australia) the other week and my SSAE stamp was not cancelled!!! Needless to say, I shall be re-using the stamp for another letter.
THANKYOU 'AUSTRALIA POST' and Merry Christmas!!!!

Best of luck with your collections,

YOURS_SINCERELY

Hi all

A moment of sanity prevails . . . .

Thank you YOURS_SINCERELY

I purposely left this thread as I thought it would eventually burn itself out. Apparently not

I don't think that the US Postal service is going to be overly worried about an underpayment of a few cents on an envelope. In fact when a new charging price is enforced the worldwide postal union mandate advise carriers that a 2 month "introduction period" is implemented.

What this means is that any post which carries stamps to the former value are accepted for carriage for a period of 2 months from the rate increase.

Recent studies showed (in the UK at least) that the recovery of small deficits in postal payment costed the Royal Mail (UK Postal Service) enormous amounts of time and money. So much that a regulation was passed so that if a letter or packet was understamped then the recipient was expected to pay the postage deficit together with an administration charge of Ã‚Â£1.

If the recipient does not want to pay the deficit and fine then they can refuse and the item is returned to the sender.

With regards to the re-use of stamps, I can't see why you shouldn't if they haven't been cancelled.

As well as us (the consumer) having obligations to pay for postage, the postal carrier has the obligation of carrying out their duties properly. If they have not cancelled the postage stamps then it is the carrier who is at fault.

In actual fact as far as the law stands, the carrier has refused to accept payment for service. i.e you offered payment but it was declined.

Imagine you go into a shop and the assitant offers you a free service such as carry-to-car. As a token of goodwill you offer to give the assitant some money, but they refuse. Are you then guilty of an offence? You offered payment and it was declined.

I understand that our friend "GUEST" has read (and learned the USPS Terms and Conditions by heart by the sounds of it

) and I am personally very impressed by his/her committment in this. But I can't help thinking with all the worries we have in this world, that whether a multi-billion corporation gets its extra 3 cents is not one we should be overly concerned with.

Sorry if I sound unfeeling GUEST. But my advice is: get a life.

Happy Christmas,
Ian

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:15 pm

LOL! Now that gave me a good laugh. Thanks! I guess you can assume I am a GUEST however I may just post under GUEST because I don't want to have my registered ID known. I didn't figure that anyone would care enough to research WHY all of this is illegal, I had considered it common sense, however if someone follows the advice to do these things then is confronted after trying to fraud the government, it won't be me answering to them and calling them "stupid". I'll leave that at that and go ahead and let this thread "burn out" because it's not my rear end on the line.

rpbluesman · Post by **rpbluesman** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:25 am

TheCollector wrote:A moment of sanity prevails . . . . I purposely left this thread as I thought it would eventually burn itself out. Apparently not

Thank you Ian. I tried to help bring this thread to a close, I obviously wasn't successful.

Now that we have all had our say, why don't we just try to leave the topic at hand the way it is, and quit arguing over it.


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