This has been bugging me, not being a US citizen, so I thought I'd post this info here for anyone else who's been wondering. What do the letters on some late model US stamps mean?
A 15 cents 5/29/78 B 18 cents 3/22/81 C 20 cents 11/1/81 D 22 cents 2/17/85 E 25 cents 4/3/88 F 29 cents 2/3/91 G 32 cents 1/1/95 H 33 cents 1/10/99
None are particularly scarce except for one H post card rate which was printed but never issued. However a few were actually used.
James, these were all contingency stamps. When the USPS was anticipating a rate increase they would print these so they would be ready when the increase was granted. By the time the 'I' was supposed to be issued, there were too many jokes going around what the 'I' should stand for. With the advent of our beloved "Forever" stamps, these contingency values are no longer needed.
Ahh, thankyou for the update Peter. It all makes sense to me now. Here in Canada our new stamps sport the letter 'P'. Makes me grateful that they are self adhesive. I wouldn't want to lick something 'that has P on it'.
The US Postal Service website has all of these pre-Forever stamps (letter stamps A-H plus other non-denominated stamps and postal stationery) in a comprehensive reference at this link. A very useful reference:
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Posted 09/22/2012 3:09 pm
