Sold Out? Did I Miss My Chance?

So did I miss out? I'm currently on the USPS website ordering some stamps from earlier this year, and I'm not finding a few. Bioluminescent Life, Flag Act of 1918, and O Beautiful do not turn up in a search for just the stamps. Were these that popular that I missed out ordering them?

Dave, you can always call the USPS at the cave. 1-800-782-6724. Sometimes one part of this place ( the USPS ) has no idea of what is going on and speaking with a live person is much better anyway!

Peter

If you go to the pull down menus you will find the stamps & other products listed, or go to the next page. It is somewhat a difficult site to navigate through & you need to really dig into the site for some of their items, even their most recent. (I was just in the site the other day and all the items you mentioned were listed in some section but not showing on the initial page upon opening the site).

I've taken to acquiring the new issues soon after they are issued. I keep reading how the commemorative stamps are being printed in smaller and smaller quantities.

While I believe this is a good thing, it does leave the possibility that a particularly popular issue could conceivably be sold out in a matter of a few weeks.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Dave,

Never fear. Mystic will have it. eBay too.

Jack Kelley

If you know the item (SKU) number for a stamp, you can search for it. I tried all of the items the OP mentioned & could find none of them. They may have been listed on the web site when elegies visited, but they are there no longer. Somewhat disheartening considering that O Beautiful was issued in early July, less than 3 months ago.

The US Postal Service has a store on eBay which currently lists 472 different items available - including all 3 items mentioned by the original poster.

I just did a quick review of the latest Philatelic Catalog & those issues are still listed as available & the associated FDC/DCP items are also listed. The USPS store does not recognize the sku for the sheets though. I think they are available from the USPS Fulfillment Center but you may need the sku to order (either by phone or order form).

Well, Flag Act and O Beautiful sheets turned up at a nearby post office. However, the Bioluminescent sheet is still M.I.A. The clerk actually suggested another branch not too far away that she said usually has a good supply of stamps, but admitted that the Bioluminescent stamps sold quickly. Not giving up yet!

Maurice Bessette, The Postmaster of Oneco CT 06373 Has a Mail-order service for current USPS items. No S/H fee, Sent to you via Priority Mail, NO On-line service, Payment via Check / M.O. ( no Plastic ) For His Current List of Items for sale, send a Postcard to Postmaster 1104 Plainfield Pike, Oneco CT 06373-9998 & ask. He will send you info & order forms/return envelopes, you send him your order(s) with Check/M.O., when the check clears, he sends you your stamps. Old School.

Attached is the 15 SEP 2018 Inventory from Maurice Bessette, Postmaster Onceo CT 06373.
Mail Orders Only, No Internet
Check/M.O. Only, No Plastic
No Fees, orders sent via Priority Mail.

In Addition to having all of these, Mr Bessette also has Open Rolls & Panes/Sheets that he CAN SPLIT & sell you as many, or as few, as you want. Coils: Open Rolls 01-50 cents If you want a Plate Number: Coil ( PNC ) from a roll, you need to buy the minimum off of the coil. ( 30 or 20 ) You Do Not Have to Buy the Whole Coil ( 3K - 10K )
Some Panes or 20 CAN Be Split. If you want Just a Plate Block With the Selvage/Plate Number, then you buy 4 stamps & say you want a Plate Block. You Do Not have to buy all 20. Some stamps were printed with the restriction of Full Sheet Only.
Some Post Cards/Reply Cards, you had to buy a pack of 5 or 20 to get one. Not here, As many, or as few, as you want.
Booklets of 20 are booklets of 20, sorry.

If in dought, send Mr Bessette a Post Card & Ask.

My search finally paid off. On one of my futile post office stops, I met a clerk who said she was subbing from another branch a not far away, and that she was sure they had the Bioluminescent Life sheets. My mother lives nearby said branch, and was happy to take a walk and investigate, being one of my few family members who has actually shown interest in my collection. success! She found the sheet there and picked one up for me. Now I'm pretty up-to-date, other than the $1-$2-$5 stamps. Now to get those Winter Birds, this week's Hot Wheels, and the upcoming holiday stamps.

It seems you spent a considerable amount of time and gasoline expense versus the several mail order options presented in this thread. Was there a compelling reason to buy them in-person?

The O-Beautiful series is not listed under stamps. But under the collectors section in their website..

They seem to be offering it as a combo.

https://store.usps.com/store/produc...gle-S_565310

John Becker: Actually, I did not use a considerable amount of time and gas. I stopped at the handful of post office branches between my office and home. I don't shop on eBay, and the stamps I mentioned were not available any longer on the USPS website. Simple as that. My original post was merely to point out that I was surprised that so many stamps from this year were no longer available through the website. I usually find it the other way around: my local post office runs outs long before the website does. If my mother had not found the last one at the branch that's walking distance from her, I would have looked into other options.