Do You Buy USPS Yearbooks And Packets? I Bought Damaged Stamps!

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I found it easy to purchase yearbooks and packets from the USPS, but....


Back in 2016, Scott #5093-97 "Soda Fountain Favorites" had been put with the yearbook stamps after having been simply cut with scissors (or similar) cutting the perforations damaging the stamps. I still have these damaged stamps sitting on my desk. I did not try to process them for a few years so I did not notice immediately. I have not purchased yearbooks or packets from the USPS since I noticed this about four years ago.

Has anyone else experienced this? Do you still buy these?

One could argue that this is related to another post of mine about how to separate stamps especially when the backing is not perforated in any way.

You actually purchased stamps as issued by the post office and sold at retail over the cave counter. Did you expect the postal service to individually create a perfect single for you while making other stamp unsalable?

There is an approximately $3.30 cost for such customizing when ordering stamps from the philatelic agency. To avoid that choice you have the ability to purchase the minimum order unit for an issue and get one perfect stamp while using the other on you mail, throwing them in the garbage, giving them away or selling at a discount from face. Your solution to never buy another year book will prevent you from receiving stamps you dislike and is a solution I endorse.

Times change and the modern self-adhesive stamps cannot be handed like the perforated ones nor the perforated ones be handled like the imperforate issues and gummed issue cannot be handled as NGAI items.

The USPS sells sets with a book to put them in. It includes a hard cover commemorative book, stamps, and mounts. This is an easy way to get specific sets without buying entire sheets. They have offered this for years and they are the sale right now.

I was curious if anyone else bought packaged sets and received damage stamps. They should not include stamps if they damage them, especially if they target collectors. I suspect they are targeting children as the recipient's.

https://store.usps.com/store/collec...s/_/N-gvltsj

They also have high value sets. Imagine buying that and those are damaged

Yes, the issues are usually created by people who assemble these books, and do not not care about "philatelic" material, because to them they are just stamps being sold.
Usually, if the book is purchased it is often opened and stamps mounted in a very short period of time after receiving it. Damage if noticed can be quickly resolved at Post office counter.
Since it has been so long the only other way to resolve it is to try and find another set at face or less and use the cut ones for postage.

By the time I figured it out it was a bit late to go back and complain. I mounted an entire sheet of these in my stamp book as well as my daughters.

I ordered these from the web site. My local USPS does not carry them. There used to be a philatelic near by, but they seem to have closed all those. Very sad about that!

Cutting through the die cuts to separate the stamps seemed to be a common practice. I ran into the same thing and stopped buying the yearbooks. Getting individual stamps was cheaper this way then buying through dealers I found, until USPS started this practice.

I haven't bought their year books, but I have purchased framed samples. I've got the Star Wars Droids, L3 (I think she's sassy); Winter Woodland Animals, Fox; Horses. I've also got plenty of FDC's and stamps in sheets.
No problems with any of these.
So my experience is a little bit limited, though.
Sorry to hear about your yearbook, that must be rotten to the core. (I was going to use an expletive here, but since this is a family forum...well you know)

Never had a problem with standard sheets that I order, if anything they are less likely to have bent ends then if I pick up in the post office.

I really miss having a philatelic nearby. Do those exist anywhere these days?

When I lived in Michigan I had to go into downtown Detroit to find one. I still remember when they closed the one that was near me here in Ohio. It was a sad day.

When there is an issue of a 4-design booklet or a coil issue (one or multiple design) I set aside from my stock items to replace the clipped perfs of the booklet or set aside a single or strip of the coils for inclusion to my yearbooks. If you need to do this for for back yearbook issues, go to a stamp show, dealers are willing to sell complete booklets @ face & you can possibly get an intact coil. Then just use the 'damaged' yearbook stock as postage.

I have bought many of these through the years (both US and Ireland) and never noticed a problem. The solution seems to be to look at the stamps when you get them and return it if the stamps are damaged.

Would you take the damage stamps to a local post office or would you mail them back? Oftentimes I find when I I buy a large set of tools and one is bad. They tell me I have to return the entire thing. Just curious how you think that would play out...

My experience with USPS out of Kansas City (phone or online) is that they tell you to write "Not Collector Quality" on the return slip and return the item. It can be a single item in an order. I have had 100% success with this. I try hard to make orders from KC not be machine pickable. They will just throw them into a box and let them bounce around which results in bends and creases. So, the end result is that I have a lot of yearbooks from 2018-2024, because a yearbook guarantees that the rest of the things are fresh along the edges and corners, but either way, when they goof them up, I just write that and return and they send another set.