Spanish Dealer Cover-Opened By Cbp / Personalized Postage

Received this today. I've never had an international letter opened by CBP which was a minor novelty. However, I was intrigued that the dealer has created and used his own customized postage to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his business. (Tariff A which is the domestic rate up to 20g). A larger advertising label of a similar design in Catalan was on the back. (Grateful that the stamps were essentially hermetically sealed to the enclosed letter and very much intact.)

For those curious, shipping time from Sabadell (near Barcelona) to Boulder CO was a little more than 3 weeks. I completely understand why dealers make use of standard mailing labels/postage but definitely appreciate it when they opt to use commemoratives and interesting items for franking.



Edit: improved image

Nice cover. Anything interesting inside? Just stamps right? I don't know why CBP bothers opening envelopes and what smuggled material they could possibly be looking for. Probably the colorful stamps on the envelope made it "suspicious" and drew attention for better or for worse.

Interesting to me but just stamps in a non-bulging envelope!

Hello.
It's a nice postage that only philatelists use. Normally it is franked only with the label and that is where the value is reflected, see that it has 0.00 written on it. Most offices do not have stamps.
Personally I despise personalized stamps, although there are those who collect them.
Since its inception they have been issued more personalized than regular, in almost all countries.
The € 5 King Felipe VI stamps is a highly sought after piece and if you touch it, you will see that it is made of a thicker and stiffer material than normal stamps. Until today I had not seen a regular letter opened by Customs anywhere. I hope that other countries do not take the example of US Customs.
Regards.

Customs was looking for dutiable items. Trying to balance the budget.

Your statement " Grateful that the stamps were essentially hermetically sealed to the enclosed letter and very much intact.) " explains why it was opened. When vacuum sealed stamps appear as a solid mass. That Threw up a red flag due to the density,. Stamps on envelope (not a traceable meter strip) is flag 2. All mail entering the US is scanned by CBP.