US Postage

Every United States stamp issued after 1861 is valid for use as postage. No one would use a $5 Columbian on a package but you could. Most of the hundreds of millions of dollars of mint postage stamps sold to collectors over the last fifty years is still around waiting to be used on mail. These stamps exist in quantities thousands of times greater than any possible collector demand. Such postage commonly is sold in the trade at a discount from postage as any prospective user could go to the post office to get as many current denomination stamps as he needed. Thus a discount makes such older postage stamps in odd denominations appealing to mailers. For the last fifty years older postage has typically traded at about a 20% discount from postage value. But a fallout from the recession has been weakness in the postage market to where postage now sells for about 40% off. The reasons for this is that US postage wholesalers are sated and have been reluctant buyers and computer tracking of packages has made it difficult to use non metered postage. However, if your business or personal needs call for quantities of postage you could lower your bills by 40% or more by purchasing discount full gum postage on the philatelic market and using it on your mail. It’s perfectly legal and your mail recipients, seeing the older stamps, just might be encouraged to take up our hobby.