Sunday, March 20, 2016

Green(e)

It's Sunday Stamps time. Today's theme is green, and to see more stamps go here.

This is a vintage 1c stamp issued in 1936. The first in a series honoring  army heroes, this stamp features revolutionary war Generals George Washington, who went on to become the first US President, and Nathaniel Greene.

The stamp is accompanied by a hummingbird stamp, a stylized design by Nancy Stahl in shades of green and blue.



1c used to be enough to send a postcard.






Currently the cost is 35c to send a postcard domestically, however on April 10 it will be reduced to 34c when the exigent rate increase expires, much to the unhappiness of USPS. 

First class letters will decrease by 2c to 47c, and the extra ounce price will reduce to 21c. A 2 oz letter will therefore cost 3c less (68c), and a 3 oz letter will cost 4c less (89c).

International letters will decrease by 5c to $1.15.

14 comments:

  1. This is a great stamp. At first I thought it was money!
    I've never heard of postage rates decreasing in my country.

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    Replies
    1. This is the first decrease in 98 years, the last time being at the end of world war 1.

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  2. Replies
    1. I feel bad for usps,though, they will be hurting when prices decrease, and I am sure service quality will decline.

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  3. 1936...this a special stamp to have! I am really surprised when I see such older stamps on the mail.
    Btw, having a decrease is good on one side...but as mentioned by FinnBadger, I hope that won't result in service quality decline...or reducing the number of employees...even though it doesn't seem as a huge decrease...

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    Replies
    1. The Postmaster General has stated that USPS stands to lose 2 billion dollars annually due to the decrease.

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  4. So nice to see the old and new stamp together on one piece of mail!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it is! I always enjoy seeing vintage stamps in the mail. The only downside is that modern sorting machines can be quite rough on the older stamps sometimes.

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  5. You can really appreciate the change in stamp designs when you get such an old stamp alongside a current one.

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  6. I was surprised to see such an old stamp used with a modern one. Make the most of your decrease in postage costs - after all you won't be around for the next if you have to wait as long again. I'm learning a lot of American history from old stamps such as this.

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    Replies
    1. I will, although I bought plenty of forever stamps at the current rate. ...

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  7. Nice to receive such an old stamp postally and very nicely cancelled (with currency changes we can only go back to 1972 with our stamps). I like your double Green.

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    Replies
    1. Seeing vintage stamps used on contemporary mail is almost always appealing. Glad you liked it.

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