Postcard stamps - $0.27 or $0.30

Today I ventured into the Woodstock Post Office to buy a few of the Forever stamps – not too many, but why not take advantage of the savings now, by forking out money ahead of time and beating the May 11 rate increase.

While I was there, I asked a question that I thought might have a short, easy answer. “What’s the difference between a ‘postcard stamp’ and a ‘stamped card’?”

I’ll admit that it has been a long time since I bought any “stamped cards”. Those are the cards from the Post Office with the postage already printed on them. I had started buying those because it was getting harder and harder to find picture postcards as I traveled. By buying the “stamped cards” I could even pre-address them and then just jot a note and drop it in some strange Virginia mountain town I was passing through and hope it would get delivered.

Now imagine the discussion I had with the postal clerk today (she was very patient with me and I should have gotten her name, so that I could thank her here), as she tried to explain to me that, until the rate increase in a week, I could buy stamps for postcards for $0.27 each. Then she showed me a “stamped card” with $0.27 postage already printed on it – but told me I would have to pay $0.30 for it.

Huh? So the card is stamped with $0.27 pre-printed postage, but I have to pay $0.30 for it? Right.

It turns out that the Post Office thinks its card is worth $0.03. So why don’t they just print $0.30 postage on it? They can’t do that because the postage for a postcard is $0.27. Confused yet? I certainly was. After all, the money all goes into the same kettle.

Ahh, but then I remembered I’m dealing with the government – or almost.

It all seemed to make sense to her. I almost bought one of the cards, just to frame it. Maybe I still will.

By the way, did you know that your postcard must be a minimum size of 3½” x 5” and a maximum size of 4¼” x 6” to go by the basic “postcard stamp” rate? Over-sized postcards get more advertising attention, and they also require more postage.