Special Delivery Stamps

Does anyone know if special delivery stamps can be used on first-class mailings that are over 1 ounce? My thanks in advance for any advice.

Special delivery stamps are no longer valid for postage. See section 604, paragraph 1.3a here:
https://pe.usps.com/text/DMM300/604.htm

I have seen plenty of the 45 and 60 cent stamps used over the last few years though.

Thank you, both!

In short, special delivery stamps were always invalid for anything other than paying the special delivery fee.

Still, the old special delivery stamps were grandfathered in late in the scheme of things (1990s?) due to squawking from the stamp trade. I remember when special delivery stamps that had once languished in dealer "stamps at face" boxes suddenly disappeared. They were valid only for Express Mail service.

I am unaware of this. Can anyone cite an actual regulation allowing special delivery stamps on express mail?

I have been told that special delivery stamps were valid for Priority Express Mail, However, the USPS Domestic Mail Manual clearly countermands that, saying "The following are not valid to pay postage for U.S. domestic or U.S.-originated international mail: a. Postage due, special delivery, special handling, and certified mail stamps."

I recall that the reasoning/excuse given was that Express Mail had a special delivery component to it. Since special delivery service was not discontinued absolutely until 1997 (date given as June 8), perhaps it was then when the stamps were invalidated (again). Just a guess.

I did bring photocopies from the PL&R (Postal Laws & Regulations) when using the specials on Express Mail or other oddball postage generally (undenominated, fractional coils) just in case I got an argument from the counter clerk. But that was rare and perhaps they didn't care. Usage was obvious with the mailer plastered with a bunch of special deliveries with high-value postage alongside. That Express Mail was never returned, never delayed. This would have been circa 1993.

Now wasn't the original Express Mail somewhat different from today's Priority Mail Express and not just a rebranding? I believe that there was no Sunday delivery in the 90s at minimum.

PL&Rs from the 90s need to consulted. Anyone have some of them?

By the 1980s, the "Postal Laws and Regulations" had been replaced by the "Domestic Mail Manual" and the "International Mail Manual". I do not have ones later than 1991.

As a substitute, I searched the "Postal Bulletin" covering 1991-2013 for "special delivery". Nowhere did I find any reference to accepting special delivery stamps for express mail let alone any other purposes.

I did find reference that special delivery stamps were withdrawn from sale in July 1981 (PB 21806, Jen 9, 1992, page 4).

And a notice of revision/recodification to the DMM that continued to include special delivery stamps as invalid for postage (PB 21809, 2-20-92, page 11).

I would note there were entries that international special delivery ran through very late 2000, although some countries had eliminated it earlier.

In summary from what I see, while an occasional clerk may have accepted a special delivery stamp for postage contrary to regulations, or a mailer slipped one through the system unnoticed (both fairly common, I suspect), that special delivery stamps have technically been invalid for postage since the demise of special delivery. That said, I have an open mind if shown an official directive of some sort.

The USPS has SO MANY rules & regulations that it is common to fond clerk that doesn't know a particular rule and just because some Sepce dels got thru does not prove they were valid. I've even seen Duck stamps used to mail something.

If you met the clerk in my small town you would know that you could use a Dole banana sticker on your envelope.