Difficulty Purchasing The USA Star Coils

I have had an interesting time trying to purchase the new USA Star coils. While I haven't yet succeeded in my purchase, I am fairly certain that I eventually will. But the experience has raised a few questions. First, am I the only collector who has run into this difficulty? Second, is my interpretation of the rules the correct one?
And what exactly seems to be the problem? Well, first of all, I was ordering by phone. When I gave the clerk the item number for a 25-stamp strip, I was told that they are not allowed to sell the non-profit coils without a permit number. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, said supervisor repeated the same mantra. Of course, I have purchased similar coils for a number of years now (I have even talked to another collector who recently purchased these very stamps without a permit). During those years, this is the second time that I've encountered this problem. The first time it was solved by having my call forwarded directly to SFS in KC. Unfortunately today, my call came too late as the SFS office closed 5 minutes before my phone call. But I am convinced that I will be able to purchase the stamps once I talk to the right person. So ... my questions.
(1) Has anyone else been told that they are not allowed to buy the non-profit coils (or any precanceled stamp)?
It was my understanding that one needed a permit to actually use the stamps for postage, but not necessarily to purchase them. So my next question ...
(2) Do you need a permit to buy these stamps?
If the answer to (2) is yes, then obviously the rules have been routinely ignored in the past.

"NON-PROFIT" stamps have normally been restricted sale items at post offices to Permit Holders only with sale allowed through the Philatelic Agency. I suggest researching the DMM (Domestic Mail Manual for the exact Ruling). I had this problem years ago. The Post Office doesn't want people using placing Non-Profit stamps on normal mail --they have no way to tell who is a Permit Holder and who isn't.

In the past, if you had a window clerk who knew you were a collector, you could sometime get them to "slip you" a sheet or roll or stamps. But I was always told to keep my mouth shut as to where I got the stamps because, "..it was against the rules to sell the stamps to non-permit holders." So, your local post office is correct.

JLLebbert, I have personally never ran into that problem. In the 80's I would go to the main post office in Atlanta ( I worked close to them ) and buy whole rolls of coils. Later I transferred to a place in College Park where I was next door to the post office that serviced the airport and from where they distributed the stamps all over their district. Again I bought all my stamps from there now, and never had a problem.
But I would suggest you get a permit. It does not cost a cent, and then you are safe from all this.
Ask your PO for PS form 3615.


Peter

Peter: I did fill out a 3615 a few years ago. When I tried to turn it in, I was told I would have to submit it at the branch that handled bulk mail ... at the far northern edge of the city (I live in the southern part). When I did so, I was asked for $300 and told that there was no such thing as a free permit for stamp collectors. I knew they were wrong ... but I also believed at the time (incorrectly it turned out) that my permit would have to reside at that far northern branch. Convincing someone that I was right & then subsequently hand-delivering all mail with precanceled stamps to a distant PO suddenly seemed not all that desirable. Basically, it just didn't seem to be worth the trouble. So I tossed my 3615 & forgot about it.
But I have been considering trying again. The problem will be finding a local postal authority who either knows the rules or is willing to listen & learn.
Added: Incidentally, one can obtain a 3615 on-line. Think I got mine at usps.com.
... John ...

Here's the link to the online USPS Form 3615. The problem is the form doesn't make any reference to fee-free processing of the form exclusively for collectors use of precanceled stamps:

https://about.usps.com/forms/ps3615.pdf

The availability of a no-fee permit seems to be less clear with the current version of form 3615. There's an older version here: http://postcardmagnet.com/documents...orm-3615.pdf on which the "no fee" option is noted next to box 2 in section B.

As expected, I was able to order my USA Star coils today. And, as expected, I had to escalate the call to SFS in KC. The chore was neither quick nor easy (there was a significant wait for someone to answer), but we managed to get the job done.
In the process I learned several things. First, when ordering by phone you are restricted to a max of 4 25-stamp strips. But since there are two order numbers, this can become 4 strips from each size coil roll. As luck would have it, I needed exactly 8 strips. Second, this limit can be lifted via several routes:
(1) Include the strips in a larger order. How large does it need to be ... is the required order size affected by the number of strips ordered? Questions for which I have no clue. I do know that I actually tried to do this on my initial call. The attempt failed ... so on that call I ordered everything I needed except the USA Star coils.
(2) Obtain a special type of USPS account which allows the USPS to withdraw payment from the customer's bank account. I would guess this is used mostly by major non-profit orgs.
(3) Use mail-order & send a personal check.
Third, it is obvious that one does not need a permit to buy these stamps. This is true even though I was initially told that they could not sell me the stamps without a permit number.
Finally, when ordering by phone, you must pay via credit-card. It appears that the USPS balks at selling heavily discounted postage via credit-card. In their mind, credit-card fees exacerbate the "lost revenue" from the sale of such stamps. An obvious solution would be to tack on some sort of surcharge to recover those credit-card fees. Of course, whatever collectors spend on these stamps is mostly profit anyway, but there's no way for the USPS to guarantee that the purchase is strictly for philatelic purposes.

You may be absolutely correct, however, for those who still get "hard copies" of USA Philatelic, the "Payment" section of the order form includes this comment:




I've learned not to deal with this at all, as fortunately I'm about 45 minutes away from the post office in Oneco, CT. That's the place where you can get virtually anything the USPS has to offer with respect to new issues (regular postage, coils and service inscribed stamps).

Thank you John, for pointing out how to buy the precancels!

Peter

My USA Star strips arrived today. One caveat to all who have yet to purchase these strips. All strips from the 3K roll had the plate number situated on the 12th stamp, one stamp beyond the first fold. This makes a PS5 possible only with a crease between the 1st & 2nd stamp. All strips from the 10K roll had the plate number on the 5th stamp, thereby easily allowing for either a PS5 or PS7 or PS9 with no crease. While not all strips may have the plate number in the same location as mine, I would at this time recommend buying strips from a 10K roll.