I brought a letter to our local post office with the correct amount of unused, mint condition first class stamps affixed to the envelope. The postal worker argued that because they were stamps from the 1920's through 1940's, they could no longer be used for current postage because their machines couldn't read them. I am a stamp collector, and have used my surplus stamps for postage for many decades.
2007-07-30 16:04:58 · 15 answers · asked by deepseas72 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Government
I've never heard of them expiring and have certainly have use old stamps. The only thing is that the values of the older stamps are generally lower, so you have to use more of them. And, if, by chance, you do have one that would be worth something to a collector or something, the post office would generally not recognize that value.
However, if it would cause more work for a postal worker in having to do things by hand rather than machine, I would not be surprised that they would refuse.
2007-07-30 16:15:53 · answer #1 · answered by turdl38 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well, that kind of surprises me. My husband had a stamp collection when he was a kid and I totally dismantled it and used it all on envelopes. There weren't any valuable stamps, just a waste of money laying in those books. I would send a letter to a friend and try using the stamps and see what happens. Maybe they will have to hand stamp the letters. Who cares? They encouraged people to save stamps, didn't they?
2007-07-30 16:09:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You could have sold the unused stamps for a profit and bought a few new ones.
20's to 40's should sell as a collector item.
2007-07-30 17:09:16 · answer #3 · answered by DeathsToy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have used the extras from my mothers mass collection and have never had a problem. All my letters got to where they were supposed to. I always assumed the stamp was worth the value printed on it for mailing purposes. Just drop them in the mailbox next time,then they can't give you a hard time.
2007-07-30 16:30:20 · answer #4 · answered by Jan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No they don't expire the government starts changing them by the logo and by the price. I still have 23 cents stamps and i still use them. They are looking at the cost on the stamps. Meaning 1cents , 3 cents , 23 cents etc
2007-07-30 16:41:01 · answer #5 · answered by Susan G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will most likely need to use more current (perhaps 1970s) stamps as the workers states, the modern machines will not recognize too old of stamps...
2007-07-30 16:19:07 · answer #6 · answered by Patrick H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, postage stamps don't expire. You can use it.
2016-05-18 02:37:23 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To the best of my knowledge - no they don't. You simply have to use ENOUGH of them to equal the current postage rates...
Up here in Canada, they released a "Permanent" stamp in 2006 - that is worth WHATEVER the current rate is. This was done to avoid the problem of constantly changing postage rates...
2007-07-30 16:18:46 · answer #8 · answered by kr_toronto 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I don't believe they expire. Take them to a different post office. If they still won't take them, demand reimbursement for the cost of the stamps.
2007-07-30 16:09:34 · answer #9 · answered by Merissa F 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The only thing needed is postage will have to be added. but I would not use uncirculated stamps when they would be worth more in a collection.
2007-07-30 16:44:30 · answer #10 · answered by stumblnbear 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋