Double War Postage

Postcards increased temporarily to .02 during the war. Afterward, they returned to .01 until sometime in the '50's.

And the elves, they worked late into Christmas Eve...

Letters increased to 3 cents during WWI, postcards also increased to 2 cents Nov 2, 1917-June 30, 1919. your card is rated correctly.

And the odder situation, from April 15, 1925-June 30 1928, postal cards remained at 1 cent while private mailing cards like picture postcards were 2 cents.

That is not entirely true JessEm.

While postal cards (with pre-printed postage) remained at 1¢ during the war, the rate for postcards (where you had to add stamps) went up to 2¢ from 11/02/1917 to 06/30/1919.

So the sender used the correct rate. In that way this is a nice example of the World War I US postal card rate.

Smauggie, No, postal cards and post cards were treated alike during WWI, both went to 2 cents. That's why we have UX29-UX30, and the revaluing of the remainders back to 1 cent after the war as UX31-UX35 as shown here with one used during the war tax period and one afterwards.

Ok, so it's the person who posted this who misunderstood.

I had no doubt if I was wrong about that, someone here would catch it.

Now I'm going to edit that since it's so categorically false.

Yes, your editing of the original post is now correct for the 1917-1919 era. Here is an example of the rate differential of the 1925-28 period I mentioned above relating to postal cards vs post cards. Mailed first as a bill as a postal card on Nov 6, 1926, returned under cover with payment after that, then remailed as a receipt on November 10, 1926, now as a private mailing card and requiring 2 cent postage. Notice the adhesive stamp is over the first cancel on the right. Both of its trip through the mail are correctly rated, but differently. So postal cards remained at 1 cent 1919-1951, but post cards had a brief hiccup in 1925-28 at 2 cents.

That's neat, John! Thanks for posting that.

I posted a similar thread back in December, which can be found here.

https://goscf.com/t/40896

One of my war rate card was sent at the old penny rate, possibaly because of the flu then sweaping the nation, but for what ever reason the folks at the Willits PO didn't notice that this Christmas card only payed half the rate, or maybe it was a gift, if so, the folks at the recieving office were also giving, No one noticed the under-rated card.









These next two postmarks are not war related but are more evidence of hard working elves.Unlike their mid western cousins, the Mendocino County, Cal elves had to work a bit longer, especially the elves out on the California Western Railroad at Northspur.

Could the year date on the Willets, CA card be 1916 or even 1915, and thus properly rated at 1 cent? Is the message dated? The PO was not generous in ignoring underpaid mail, so 1918 seem unlikely.

Does anyone know the exact date in the 1950's when postcards became .02?

Disregard. I found the answer. (1/1/52)

Does anyone mind confirming if the postcard rates on this Wiki Page are correct. The dates in question are November 2, 1917 and July 1, 1919.

The postcard rates were blanks for those dates and I filled them in with the info provided here. Please let me know if there's an error.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histor...orical_rates

This is the information you want. Note the Wiki link does not address the 1925-1928 era when postcards were increased to 2-cents while postal cards (stamped cards) remained at 1-cent:

https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/p...rd-rates.pdf

Jess, the dates and rates are correct.

Edit: Although not as compleate as wt1 provided.

John, The year date under magnification does shows 1918, although a bit over inked and its on the corner of the stamp. Unfortunatly, there is no date with the message.