When Were US Postage Due Stamps Discontinued From Use?

Seems like an easy question, but believe it or not when surfing the web for an answer, several different sources provide different answers, with nothing very specific. The Scott Catalog does not seem to make any reference to it either.

What do you think? Most references seem to suggest that the use of US postage due stamps were discontinued in either 1985 or 1986 -- but exactly when?

If postage due stamps were discontinued in 1985, we would have to account for the fact that the last US Postage Due Stamp (J104) in a 17-cent denomination was issued on June 10, 1985, so it is fair to assume that discontinued use of postage due stamps would have had to have been after that date.

A "Refresher Article" in Linn's Stamp News on Postage Due Stamps suggests that "The US stopped using postage due stamps in August 1986." Why does that date differ from other sources that suggest that use of postage due stamps were discontinued in 1985? Could some have it confused with the fact that the last postage due stamp was issued in 1985 but the use of the postage due stamps continued until August 1986?

It would be interesting to see if anyone has a LKU (last known use) example of US Postage Due stamps on an official piece of mail that would help to answer what appears to be a very ambiguous question.

According to a quick google lookup, this site http://www.shaulisstamps.com/tips/PostageDues.htm showed up.

It suggests the following:




Not sure when the last one might have actually been used though.

Any others with info?



Dave

The govt makes more money if they just return to sender.
You send a letter with 42c on it, they send it back, you
re-mail it with 44c on it. They made 86c to deliver that
one letter. If they put a 2c due on the letter, they only
net 44c for the letter. I wouldn't put it past them.

I still find this an interesting question. One of the web sites suggested that the demise of the postage due stamps was not necessarily because of the USPS policy to return underpaid items as "return to sender" but because postage meters took over for the stamps.

I have scoured my collection of postage due stamps and while I have many, none (post-1970 anyway) have a clear date on it, and the balance are unused, so that doesn't help me pinpoint a last known date of use.

As I said earlier, postage due stamps allegedly gave way to postage meters. I have this cut from a 9x12 envelope in which postage was underpaid and the the receiving USPS office affixed the attached "Postage Due" Meter to the piece acknowledging an additional 40 cents postage due was paid. It is dated May 23, 1991, and (maybe intentionally to ID postage due franking) the meter impression is green in color. Quite unusual (to me anyway) to see a green postage meter impression from the USPS with specific reference to "Postage Due".



I wonder how far after 1991 postage due meters were used before they became obsolete?

I got a bubble mailer once that had a yellow paper sticker on it that said postage due and ._ _ (I forget exactally what it was)

I found it! I know it's not exactly what your looking for but still sort of neat. I have yet to see another like it anyway.

I believe the postage due stamps gave way to the postage meters then eventually to the labels and as far as I know (if they still use them today) there is a simple rubber stamp that is affixed "Postage Due ___ cents" and the postal clerk handwrites the amount collected.

It has been mentioned in other threads that many of these seemingly short-changed postage items are often overlooked and most get delivered today without incident, as the cost to return the item to sender or even to collect the few cents postage due would far outweigh the labor cost of a postal clerk having deal with all of the record keeping that would be involved to actually try and collect the few cents involved.

In the process of doing some more research on this subject, I came upon this amusing anecdote. The theory here is that NO POSTAGE would elicit a very different response than UNDERPAID POSTAGE, which for the most part, would likely be construed as an honest mistake by the general public rather than a blatant attempt to defraud the US Postal Service:

Very amusing indeed. :o)

can you scan it for us wt1...

Scan what? If you're referring to the quote above, it has no connection with me, I wouldn't dare try such a thing! I just thought it was an amusing piece as to what NOT to do. (And certainly not admit to it in writing within the mailing piece!)

I know you didn't do that wt1 and I apologize for that. I was just trying to lighten the mood (not that it needed it any). I can't believe someone would actually write what they did about defrauding the USPS in the contents..Kind of asking for it. I must admit that I have always wondered if that could be done with the return address reversal thing but never done it,.. thankfully.
Thank you for posting that as it really did make me laugh. -peace.

I Googled this same question as this topic and stumbled across this thread. Didn't know if you ever got the answer to your question but I ran across the images going through my Kiloware and thought you might be interested in seeing them. The first set you can clearly see cancel date (1979), The second item can barely be made out by looking at the back piece remaining indicates(1971), the third I can't see anything but the total due makes sense to the last dates mentioned, and lastly, a Postage Due showing it was "voided, an apparent mistake at the Post Office maybe with no date?. The postage due which show higher value than the standard rate of the day are likely due to the packages being sent, as my Father by Law was a VP at 1st National Bank in Pierre SD so I could imagine many packages were sent without proper amount of postage.

Eagle

To quote the concluding paragraph in the Scott Specialized Catalog of US Stamps under the section "Postage Due Stamps" it reads:




It would, of course, be interesting to find a late use of postage due stamps (i.e. mid-1980s).

Interestingly, it also meant the end of perforation 11 x 10.5 which was used from 1926 until 1985 for rotary press printing beginning with Scott # 634 and ending with Scott # J104.

The Associated Press carried this news article back in August 1986 about the demise of US postage due stamps:

According to Linn's Stamp News the national postage dues were discontinued in August 1986. For history and more infor about or postage due stamps see Linn's Refresher course at" http://www.linns.com/howto/refreshe...rcourse.aspx