Forever Stamps

I'm not a big fan of the use of the word "Forever" on US Postage. I understand that they're trying to show that the stamps are good through postal rate increases, but I much prefer the way Britain does it with the "1st" designation for first class mail.

I do miss denominated stamps, as a collector. It was kind of neat to look through my album and see the postal rate increase.

But I do understand that consumers prefer these forever stamps, and the USPSs primary job is to deliver mail, and not cater to collectors. So, non-denominated stamps are here to stay.

As long as you're on the subject of "Forever" Stamps, what do you think of this statistic carried on one of the USPS's web sites?



Using that calculation:

20.8 billion stamps sold and 84% were "Forever" stamps = 17.48 billion "Forever" stamps were sold in 2012.

When one looks at the fact that the USPS has issued slightly less than 11.5 billion stamps in all of 2012 (according to Postal Bulletin specs for each new issue), does this suggest that nearly 6 billion stamps were sold in 2012 from previous years? Or does the USPS reprint stamps far above and beyond the quoted quantities as published in the Postal Bulletin?

Remember, we are only talking about "Forever" stamps (not denominated ones) so high value stamps, and those used for Express Mail and Priority Mail are not included in this count. Further, we are talking about stamps sold, not just those actually used for postage.

One of the series(?) I collect is the old nondenominated Christmas and letter A, B, etc stamps (not forever) of the USA. I just happen to like them and I just happen to not like the forever stamps.

Wt1, I like your piece! I don't have any figures, but the whole thing doesn't seem right. On my incoming mail are far more non-denominated stamps than either forever or regular stamps.

Pete

Yes, but you have to exclude any discount postage, as that was purchased from the USPS in the past....

The problem with forever stamps is years from now it is going to be hard tyo figure out about when the stamp was issued unless there is a date on the stamp. Collecting older US stamps you could pretty much tell (with exceptions) when a stamp was issued by its postage value. The factor I hate is the self adhesive issue. If they are used it is harder than blue blazes to get them off paper if they are new and unused then you have to trim around the stamp and find a mount the right size to hold the thing. That is a serious pain.
Nick

There are dates on all stamps since "Forever" designated stamps came to be issued. In fact, the reason the date is in a different corner of each "Forever" stamp, is that it gives a clear indication to the USPS accounting systems to know when a when a given stamp was purchased versus used.

You got that right Nick and for that reason alone. I don't collect anything self Adhesive.