Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with postage

How to guarantee return postage into the future.

SirStan — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:31:50 -0800

Return Postage - Forever? I have an item that will be traveling from volunteer to volunteer throughout the USA. This item has been abandoned twice (not forwarded on). I would like to provide with this item an "emergency return shipping" label inside the box with the item such that a future volunteer who does not have the means or desire to ship the item on will be able to simply toss the label on the box and send it back to me, and I will coordinate its continued travels.

I have sent back numerous APC batteries with undated/unaddressed labels -- however when I try to create a "return" label on ups.com they want a 'from' address.

How can I achieve something similar to what APC does to allow me to return batteries to them (also; 3rd party toner frequently has these return labels).

I would like this label to be usable for 3+ years.

Can I put 2 Forever stamps on one envelope?

AlisonM — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:19:11 -0800

Can I put two Forever stamps on one envelope? (This is in the USA.)

I am mailing a size #10 (business sized) envelope that is about 1.5 ounces according to my kitchen scale. The envelope is thickish (think about 10 pieces of paper folded together), but light. It's a knit glove wrapped in a plastic grocery bag inside an envelops that my cousin dropped in my car. I'm mailing it back to her. I'm in NYC, she's near Boston.

According to usps.com, it costs 59 cents to mail this envelope. I have a whole bunch of Forever stamps. The Forever stamp is good to mail a first class letter until the end of time, at whatever price a letter goes for at the time of mailing (currently 42 cents). I am more than happy to slap 2 Forever stamps on there (losing 25 cents in the process based on the current price of a first class letter) to get the envelope mailed and not have to walk to and wait in line in the post office.

My question: would two Forever stamps on one envelope = 84 cents of postage? Or are the Forever stamps only good on letters under one ounce? My googling isn't getting me anywhere. I know that it'll probably get there with even one stamp, so I'm tempted to just throw it in the corner mailbox with 2.

(Mods, couldn't decide if this should go under "government" or "grab bag" or maybe even "work & money" - we're talking cents here! Feel free to recategorize.)

How much to send this greeting card to London?

zembla3 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:31:23 -0800

Roughly how much does it cost to send a average-sized, average-weight greeting card First Class from New York City to London? The USPS Web site requires the weight to calculate shipping costs, and I'm not sure how much it weighs (even approximately). I want to send the card today from work rather than trek to the post office.

How much postage do I need?

ootsocsid — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:37:50 -0800

How much postage do I need? I am mailing a standard envelope with one piece of paper and an 8.5" x 11" piece of cardboard (cut into puzzle pieces), but I don't know how much postage I need. Can anyone with a postal scale weigh the piece of cardboard from the back of a standard 8.5" x 11" pad of paper plus one piece of paper and an envelope and tell me the total weight?

Thanks!

Help me say goodbye to Pitney Bowes.

odragul — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:03:38 -0800

Is there an alternative to Pitney Bowes? My office uses Pitney Bowes for mailings and I CAN'T STAND THEM. They have the worst customer service, a horribly rigid billing service and the most aggressive fees and finance charge racket of any vendor I've ever worked with in my life. Nobody I talk to knows of any resonable alternatives. Is there something out there that will save me from the misery of working with those SOBs?

Is there a way to get Endicia (for Mac) to validate APO/FPO addresses?

cosmic osmo — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:08:47 -0800

Is there a way to get Endicia (for Mac) to validate APO/FPO addresses? I sell CDs and books on Amazon, and for whatever reason most of my customers seem to be in the military. To ship my items, I use Endicia for Mac and a DYMO printer to print address labels and postage. Prior to the most recent software update, I never had a problem getting Endicia to print labels addressed to FPOs or APOs, but now it won't let me--I get an error message that says "Postal regulations require that all addresses be verified," and it won't let me print postage for an unverified address. The addresses I'm given conform to the USPS standards for overseas military mail as far as I can tell, so what gives? Is there a way to get around this? (I'm thinking like a plugin or something is out there somewhere.)

Endicia used to be the best thing that ever happened to my Amazon/eBay selling, but now with this (and the change in acceptable labels for delivery confirmation barcodes), it's practically useless. Please help! Our troops need their gently used hip hop CDs!

Postage Stamp Filter - Philippines to USA

stuboo — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:34:13 -0800

My wife wants to send stamps to a friend in the Philippines so the friend can write back easily. What type of stamps should she buy?

Are all US postage stamps now self-adhesive?

Tube — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:08:09 -0800

Are all US postage stamps now self-adhesive? For some time now, all the postage stamps I've purchased are self-adhesive. This leads me to wonder if ALL currently manufactured US postage stamps are now self adhesive. Do other countries still make stamps that require moisture for adhesion? Is this a world trend?

And how many calories are in self-adhesive stamps, anyway????

Authoritative price guide for stamp collecting?

John Kenneth Fisher — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:55:28 -0800

I'm looking for an authoritative price guide for postage stamps, primarily US stamps from prior to 1960, similar to the Overstreet guides printed for comic books. There are a number of such stamps I would like to look up. Online would be great, physical guides that need to be purchased would be fine too. Thanks in advance.

Vintage Stamps for Face Value

bonheur — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:57:28 -0800

Where can I buy vintage, valid US postage stamps for face value or near face value? I like crafting my own greeting cards and mailing them to family and friends. I've pretty much exhausted the postage options currently available at the post office. I'd like to find vintage stamps (like, say, from the '60s and '70s) that are still valid postage, and use several at a time on the letters I send out (to, of course, total up to the current postage rate or a few cents over).
I've looked on eBay and elsewhere online, but it's hard to find usable vintage stamps for face value mixed in with "Stamp Collecting" stuff where a 1 cent stamp might cost $10 or much more.
I'm even willing to buy a "mixed bag" of older but still valid stamps from a stamp dealer-- but how? Who? Where? Please help!

postcard help?

SBMike — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:07:24 -0800

Can I augment pre-paid postcards? I am trying to enter a contest from a magazine where you need to solve a puzzle and send in the answers on a postcard. You are allowed to send in as many entries as you want. So I went to the post office and bought a stack of pre-paid (26 cents) postcards. Rather than write out the answers on each card, I was thinking it would be quicker to just print out the answers several times, cut them out onto small pieces of paper and tape them to the postcards. My two concerns are:

1. Will the USPS deliver these? I'm worried that the weight of the small piece of paper and the tape might push the postage over the pre-paid limit.

2. Will they remain intact in the mail? If they're stuck on with 4 pieces of scotch tape (one on each side), how likely is it that the paper will become unattatched during shipping?

Buying stamps online

indyz — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:34:32 -0800

Where can I buy first class postage online? I need to be able to choose a custom rate (say, $1.57). Every item I mail is the same size and weighs exactly the same (DVDs in cases, in a cardboard mailer). In the past I have used the machine at the post office to purchase stamps 20 at a time (actually 5 at a time, 4 times, stupid machine). Due to my work schedule, getting to the post office during business hours is difficult. I only ship about 20 packages a month, so subscription services like stamps.com and postal meters aren't really options.

Is there anywhere online I can order first class postage in custom dollar amounts? I am willing to order up to 100 stamps at a time.

I'd like my $3 package to cost less than $30 in postage, please.

holgate — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:44:22 -0800

With the end of USPS international surface mail, what alternatives remain for posting bulky, low-cost items that don't qualify for the M-bag?

SASE question

SheIsMighty — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 12:27:22 -0800

I'm sending a letter to Germany (and a few other countries) and I'm including a self-addressed stamped envelope in it. When the German person sends it back to me, do they need to add more postage to it? It's currently stamped with a .39 stamp. Should I not bother with postage at all if they'll have to put their own stamps on it anyway?

Will the USPS reject a letter weighing 1.1 ounces with 1 first class stamp?

duncantuna — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 20:22:23 -0800

Will the USPS reject an envelope weighing 1.1 ounces with 1 first class stamp? 1 first class .39 cent stamp will let you ship 1 ounce. But will they actually reject a letter that's a measily .1 ounce over the limit?

If the USPS rejects the letter, will they send it on Postage Due, or will they return it to the return address?

How is a postage stamp authenticated?

odinsdream — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 11:00:41 -0800

How is the authenticity of a postage stamp verified in the normal mail delivery process? When mail is delivered, how is a stamp validated? There are so many thousands of stamps from so many different years, all of which are valid postage. Combinations can be made of different stamp types and values. I assume the valuation is done through OCR or image-matching with known stamps. Verifying whether it's a real stamp, though, must be an additional step.

Why can't I print any picture at all on glossy sticker paper and cut it out with "stamp edge" scissors from an art store? Or, if I can, why do people buy stamps?

The point of this question is not to figure out how to fake stamps - it's to better understand how the mail system works, and was prompted by the recent FPP about the absentee ballot stamped with the alleged 100k stamp. Differentiating between rare stamps and very good counterfeits isn't really what I'm curious about; just everyday verification.

Envelope blues

punishinglemur — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 18:00:31 -0800

I have an envelope that's about 10"x13". Inside, I have maybe 15 pages of college application materials. And I have $3.90 in stamps. How the hell do I know how much postage I need for this thing? Should I try to figure it out myself, or should I just take it to the post office and have them figure it out?

hug a ways and chalk a mark

thirteenkiller — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 11:32:44 -0800

I sent a letter domestically in the mail (USPS) one cent short on postage. Will it get there?

How flexible are the USPS's postcard size guidelines?

sandor — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 08:45:05 -0800

How flexible are the Postal Service's postcard size guidelines? We just finished up our wedding invitations, and we only now noticed that the response postcards are a half-inch shorter than the minimum. (The USPS says postcards have to be 5 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall minimum. Ours are 4.5 x 4.) We'd rather not have to reprint everything. A little research has yielded even more confusion, as some people (one post office clerk, the guy on the other end of 800.ASK.USPS, and usps.gov) say it's not mailable, while others (three other post office clerks) say no problem, it'll still work with standard postcard postage ($.24).

This is really a three-parter: a) Will this postcard get mailed with $.24 in postage? b) If not, will it get mailed with first-class postage ($.39)? c) If not, what will happen to it?

How much does a bubble mailer + 2 dvds + a case weigh?

anonymoose — Fri, 26 May 2006 00:22:22 -0800

PostOfficeAvoidanceFilter: Has anyone made a weight calculator (or just recorded weights of commonly mailed objects) such that I can figure out how much a double DVD case, 2 dvds, and a bubble mailer would typically weigh? I imagine the variance between different 6x9 bubble mailers is relatively small, and the variance between different brands of DVD cases also small. Surely there's a way for me to spend a great deal of time successfully avoiding a trip to the post office.

(No, I unfortunately do not yet own a kitchen scale)

Alternatively, if anyone frequently sells DVDs on ebay and knows how heavy this thing is, that would do in a pinch.

Swedish Airmail Photo/Scan?

jruckman — Wed, 17 May 2006 21:22:48 -0800

I need a scan or photo of a Swedish airmail envelope (not an aerogram), as in, from Sweden to elsewhere. Ideally from around 2002 but I'll take what I can get. The best I've found is by searching eBay for 'sweden airmail', but they only have collectables from the 40s and 50s. Does anyone have one they could scan/shoot and post? Or, is there a website that would have this?

Shipping the goods home...

pissfactory — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 09:36:02 -0800

Questions about using post offices in Europe. I'm going to Amsterdam and then Barcelona this week (and the next few). I want to buy stuff (especially in Amsterdam as I hear the markets and such are just great) and ship it home. How feasible is this and what should I know? No warnings about not mailing contraband home from Amsterdam are necessary as I have no intention of even considering that. I'm taking about boots and a scarf or something like that.

How much would it cost to send a postcard to every household in the United States?

yeoz — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 06:38:29 -0800

How much would it cost to send a postcard to every household in the United States? How much would it cost to get the mailing lists in the first place? How much would it cost to send the postcards? (After, hopefully, a substantial bulk-rate discount?) Would it make a difference if the message on the postcard was a political one?

Bonus Points: How would I go about actually doing this?

Ideas needed - interesting packaging for books

blag — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 16:06:06 -0800

Looking for interesting yet professional ways to package a hardback book which will be sent through the mail. A friend has just written a business handbook on a specialist topic. The publisher is going to provide him with 200 complimentary copies: he wants to send these out to business leaders, CEOs etc. as a way of promoting his consultancy.

We're trying to think of interesting and innovative ways of packaging the book. At the moment, all we can come up with is a simple cardboard box. Do you know of any UK suppliers who can make a custom box to fit the book? Or is this a job that any printer could handle? Book details are as follows:
* Hardback
* 220 pages
* approx. 8 x 5 x 1 inches.

We're planning on including a personalised letter with it but any other ideas would be welcomed. The contents have an 'ethical' dimension, so ideas that have a minimum environmental impact would be fantastic. Also, since the books are going through the postal system, some degree of protection would be handy.

Just to be clear: this isn't packaging for the full print run - just for a couple of hundred copies which will be sent out as promotional 'gifts'.

Thanks in advance.

How much does it cost to send a letter to an FPO address?

Amanda B — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 23:01:32 -0800

My googlefu has failed me. How much does it cost to send a letter to an FPO AP address? One of my good friends is going to be on the USS Kitty Hawk, and I want to be able to write him -- I have the address, but I can't figure out how much it will cost to send the stupid letter. Google search turns up deadlines for packages to reach Sailors by Christmas.

Help me? The specific postal code is "FPO AP 96632-2770."