When Was The Last US Overprint? Why None Recently?

Did a search and couldn't find anything in SCF on this subject. Please forgive my ineptitude if I've missed this topic in my search. Thanks.

I can't recall a recent U.S. Postage stamp being overprinted for any reason...surcharge, revaluing, or whatever. I'm wondering when this was last done.

With stamps being recalled and shredded after a relatively short time, it seems logical that there would be a cost savings in revaluing these sheets. Especially in the case where a lower value is overprinted on a higher value stamp it would seem to make sense. The original printing plus the overprint would insure against postal forgeries.
Does the U.S. postal service have a policy against recycling or cost savings?

With the exception of precancels, there have been very, very few overprints of U.S. stamps. The last traditional overprint was probably in '58 or '59 with postage due stamps where the amounts were overprinted on a blank frame.

However, the USPS did authorize private firms to overprint two stamps in the transportation series. This would have been in the early '90s (I think.) The stamps were the 10c Tractor Trailer stamp and the 5c Canoe.

It seems to me that overprints were more common on postal stationery than on US postage stamps. That being said, I don't recall even any overprints on these in the past half century. I used to collect US postal cards & as I recall there were several overprints on these in the 1950s.

Some of the 1969 & 1970 Christmas stamps were precanceled. Otherwise, the bulk of U.S. overprints in the past 50 years seem to appear on fractional-rate coils and on postal stationery.

Those are actually surcharges rather than overprints.

Thanks to all. Postal stationery was the only area that came to mind when thinking about this.

In the pic, the latest cancellation is 1978. That is a long time ago.

With the USPS's large deficits, overprinting/revaluing just seems like an easy way to cut costs. I know personnel is almost always the biggest cost in any enterprise.

If they were to try to overprint a stamp that had already been distributed, they would have to recall them all back to one one of the printers and they woupld have to be overprinted by a sheetfed press rather than the webfed presses that are normally used. And of course there would need to be a reason for the overprint.

There are a number of smaller nations whose postal services have been revaluing old stamps to meet new needs. Fiji is the one that has been doing it the most.

The last overprints on US postage stamps were probably the Hawaii set in 1928, although that really made no postal change in the use of the stamps.

The 1/2c and 1-12c values of the 1938 Presidential set were overprinted "Canal Zone" in 1939 for use in that possession.

Technically the precancels that were "overprinted" were not really overprinted stamps. These coils were specially made for the precancels, without tagging. The tagged stamps were issued for collectors only.

Peter

Why none recently? Because it smells like "We screwed up." The USPS would rather destroy stamps than admit such a thing.

Good information here.

Regards,
Stampalotapus

I forgot about those, although they are very common and I have seen them many times in the last few years

Do penalty overprints count?



This envelope was made with 1949 watermarked paper. So, it was overprinted sometime between 1949 and 1967.

Nice cover! Haven't run across one of these while going through cover boxes. Are they unusual, or have I just missed them?

I know with old Germany they overprinted invalid postal stationery for internal use, but I was unaware that U.S. "penalty overprints" existed. I'm supposing these are officials, in the broad sense of the word.

"Are they unusual, or have I just missed them?"

Lots of them out there.