Best Place To Buy 2011 Stamps Now?

If I don't want to buy a block of 4 from the USPS for every 2011 release, is there some place that will sell me individual stamps at a reasonable price?

This USPS Stamp Use Set might be one option for you:

https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/st...ory=10000000

Brilliant!!

Thanks!

apastuszak, please note that the USPS Mail Use Packet only includes a portion of the released stamps for 2011. There are around 60 others US stamps that are not included in the packet. I won't go through the entire list, but, for example, it doesn't include the Go Green pane, Mark Twain, Helen Hayes, Ronald Reagan, the Wedding Cake, Merchant Marine (4), Latin Singers (5), Alan Shepard/Messenger (2), Pixar (5), or even Owney the Postal Dog. That packet is a good start, but only gets you about half of the 2011 releases.

The packet gets me the stamps I could onlynbuy in blocks of 4 that I only need 1 of. Any souvenir sheets or sheets with selvage art and text that I would want the whole sheet I can buy that way. So, it's a good money saving option for me.

apastuszak, I'm the same way - just want one of each. The post office folks nearly have a seizure on those rare occasions when I buy a whole pane or a booklet. The thing that really galls me (and many of the people on SCF) are the coils only sold in rolls of 100 and the three slightly different definitives produced by three separate printers. Considering all the variables, it will cost me over $60 to buy just one single of each stamp (not even including the new express and priority mail stamps) produced in 2012. I understand why some folks have just quit trying to keep up with each new release.

Don't forget those coils that aren't even available in rolls of 100. Some are created only in coils of 3K or 10K for high volume mailers. Fortunately, you can usually buy a strip of 25 or so from SFS for use by collectors.

What annoys me right now is that the USPS has announced the new Spectrum Eagle Presort First Class Stamps for issue on January 3, 2012 -- less than a week from now -- and you can't order them even from SFS, as they claim they haven't identified a stock number for a strip less than a full coil roll of 3K! That's one of the first stamps I've ever come across where you can't at least order them by mail until after they are issued. If the USPS were trying to alienate collectors, they couldn't do a better job than by this.

That's why I wanted to enroll in the standing order subscription service. They mail you shipments 4-6 times a year and they claim they will send you individual stamps. I spoke with someone about it in stamp fulfillment, but they asked that I call back during the day when someone more knowledgeable will be in. I was in the program in the 90s and it worked pretty good for me. Not sure how they deal with coil stamps in that program. I'm going to call next week. I'll post what they tell me.

In the Post Office I used to frequent they knew me after a while and would save all of the new issues for me for a month or two in a folder in the drawer they kept the souvenir sheets in. I could leave them there for a month or two if I wished to.

But this was the Post Mistress's doing. She asked me after a while of me coming in regularly, as she had been doing it for others before and since also no doubt.

But single stamps from a coil roll (50, 100, 5000 I think?) or out of a booklet were another thing. Not possible.

I wonder if there are any new issue fulfillment services for either the US or Canada now as there were years ago when stuff like this was more easy to accomplish. I noticed there is one fellow from Quebec province that sells on Delcampe that always has the new Canada issues for sale at a reasonable price. Hmmm.

If you don't mind paying their price, you can order singles of any US stamp from Mystic.

I didn't see any 2011 stamps on their site. All I am really trying to avoid is paying $1.76 to get ONE stamp (you have to buy stamps in blocks of 4 on beyondtheperf.com). With the amount of mail I send these days, I would never use up all the stamps I need to acquire in order to get a complete set of 2011.

The USPS used to sell individual stamps. In Philadelphia there was (maybe still is, haven't been there in a while), a USPS philatelic center that would sell you just one stamp.

Perhaps I should just talk to my local store. I have a stamp/coin/sports card store about 3 minutes from my house. I try and patronize it as much as I can to keep it in business. His prices for supplies pretty much fall right in line with mail order+shipping prices.