Uss Arizona

Good Afternoon Family,

Yesterday, I received a special offering from the MYSTIC Stamp Company. It offers a price 0f $24.95 for a $19.95 USS ARIZONA stamp. I have some questions about this stamp:

1) Is this a Priority Mail Stamp? (It doesn't indicate Priority Mail).
2) Has it been assigned a Scott number? I am thinking about the recent thread about the Circus "mini-sheet".
3) I receive offerings from MYSTIC on an occasional basis. Are these offerings normally a good value? They say the USPS is sold out of the Arizona Stamp.

Thanks for your help,
Jack Kelley

To respond:

1. No high value stamps like this have the service printed on them anymore. Although the $19.99 stamp (note the stamp value is $19.99, not $19.95) is intended for Priority Mail Express Service, it can be used for payment of $19.99 in postage for any type of parcel being mailed at a US Post Office.

2. Yes, it does have a Scott Number (#4873).

3. No, the stamp is not sold out, at least not according to the USPS Store's website. You can still buy them at face value from SFS at the link below (adding the $1.30 shipping charge, though) or you might still be able to find them at some post offices:

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...r-stamp-rate

Mystic is typically overpriced for most modern issues and a $5 (or 25%) premium over face value (plus shipping) to buy this stamp from their inventory is nothing more than price gouging, as the stamp is not that hard to find.

WT1,

I just love this Forum. Thanks for your guidance.

Jack Kelley

Mystic? Price gouging?? Who would have thought it. :-)

Retailers set markups to cover costs; lots of costs.

That stamp had to be ordered, received, logged into inventory, filed somewhere, maintained (some share of climate control, insurance, etc), re-inventoried each year ... all while their twenty bucks sits & goes nowhere ... and while they are paying rent, etc.

I am not jealous of the five bucks that Mystic put on that stamp; if you need the stamp, let 'em have it.

I am not going to go to my post office to buy one & ship it to you for a five-buck markup.

Any volunteers?

(I will take your outbound mail to the UN & post it, no markup, but that's a collector-colleague thing, not a way to make a living.)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

There is legitimate markup and than there is "how much can we squeeze" markup. I'm not referring to this specific stamp, but to a long term specific business pattern.

Happy Day.

I found the Arizona stamp (Scott #4873) at the local post office. Thanks WT1; you saved me $5- plus shipping!

Jack Kelley

Glad to hear it!