Airlift 1341 Airmail?

Are the Airlift $1 Scott# 1341 Airmail or regular stamps or something else entirely? They have a regular Scott #.

It is a commemorative stamp "Airlift to Servicemen" and was meant to be used to send packages to our servicemen during the Vietnam era.

So can it be used as regular postage then?

Yes, it can be used as regular postage. As far as I know, any US postage can be used as regular postage. I use older airmail singles and plate blocks to send letters to other collectors all the time.

they'll also let you put any extra postage on there that you want to. Isn't that nice of them?

It would be awesome to be able to use airmail as regular postage. I have tons and tons of it, but when I lived in MA the postal people there said no, it was "worthless discontinued postage that can no longer be used."

I hope that person was wrong!

i picked this one up at the flea market for a buck..the scott specialized lists it at 7 dollars..but this one is a bit frazzled !

Tonya, use them away...the postal person was wrong..i get mail all the time from collectors using airmail stamps ..sometimes I get mail posted with special delivery stamps..now I think thats a no no..but they deliver them !!

Originally the stamp was ONLY to be used for packages to American servicemen in VietNam. The USPOD broadend it's function to an airmail stamp. It is still valid for postage.

David

All US stamps since the Civil War are technically valid as postage.
USPO is not concerned with air mail or 1st class stamps only that the proper value of postage is applied to the mailed item.

Mike is correct. Only the postage stamps pre-dating the Civil War were de-monetized.

But to clarify, there are some exceptions to this rule. A couple of examples (completeness not claimed):

ALL US special delivery stamps are NO longer valid for postage.

Special service inscribed stamps (e.g., bulk rate, carrier pre-sort) are only valid for 1st class postage with the proper permit on file, as well as a few other specific rules (must be handed into post office, "FIRST CLASS" written on envelope, etc.)

I don't think you can use Postage Due stamps either, but I have used the 15 cent Certified Mail stamps and no one has blinked an eye at the post office.
Will

I used a bunch of them in Jan. and the PO Clerk only said "I haven't seen one of those in years". I also used a few Parcel Post. Just goes to show how well the USPS makes their rules known.

True, quite a few postal clerks don't know the rules. But since many of them aren't stamp collectors, and haven't worked at the post office for 30+ years, I don't expect most of them to know.

The really bad part is when the postal clerks refuse to recognize legitimate RECENT postage stamps. I had one friend who had a running fight with his postal carrier, because his postal carrier refused to pick up mail with those comic strip/book stamps and certain self-adhesives -- the carrier insisted they were not real, but stickers. Postal carrier lost out in the end, of course, but not after a lot of frustration and complaints up the ladder!

All you have to do is print out the order information from the USPS website. They will be so embarrassed they will never question it again. Than you really can start using stickers.

Actually, I've never had a problem with my mail carriers, every place I've lived.

But the clerks at my local post office. That's a different story. I give them the DMM section, they will spend 10 minutes confirming with the station manager, who will spend 10 minutes confirming with the regional postmaster. The response, the station manager gave -- "hey, they changed the rules and didn't tell us about it!"
I'm thinking, no, they set the rules a long time ago, but you either didn't bother to read them, or you forgot about them.

Here's the bad part. I can go back again, and run into the same counter clerk, who will ask me to prove it all over again...


There is a reason why I go to the post office that's farther away.

You know the forever stamp? Unfortunately that's not the only thing at USPS that is forever.

k

I have a great postal clerk at the place I mail things now, but in the past I had to train them. I never had any serious problems, but a couple questioned my stamp usage. If I get questioned then I'll start use the A, B, C and D rate stamps along with the Christmas stamps with no face value and the odd decimal transportation coils without the non-profit or bulk rate overprints. Always throw in some 1/2 cent and 1 1/4 cent stamps to boot. They won't know what to do nor up add the values. I know it's passive aggressive, but it worked.
Will