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Which UK stamps should I buy?

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:39 pm
by Lauren81492
I can't find any IRCs, and most of the people I want to write to outside of the country are in the UK anyway, so I decided just to buy some British stamps. Which stamps (and how many) should I put on my 9x13 SASE if I'm expecting an 8x10 back in it?

Also, if I want to send my letter AND receive my photo by airmail, what should I do? I've never sent anything airmail before. Are there special stamps for that, do I just write "airmail" on it, do I have to take it to the post office and pay extra for it, etc.?

Re: Which UK stamps should I buy?

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:39 pm
by EastendersFan
I'm guessing your not from the UK? The UK has 2 main stamps, 1st and 2nd class and if your from this country and send a 1st class, it will be received the following day. If you send a 2nd class it takes 2-3 days to be received. If your sending overseas with these stamps, i dont think it really matters if you buy 1st or 2nd class. 2nd class are cheaper though. You should put 2-3 stamps on your envelope overseas.

I'm not sure about the 2nd part of your question as i dont send to other countries at the moment {thumb2}

Re: Which UK stamps should I buy?

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:16 pm
by wheniam6
i asked the samw question but where online can you buy 2nd class stamps???

Re: Which UK stamps should I buy?

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:21 pm
by lizane
Lauren81492 wrote:Also, if I want to send my letter AND receive my photo by airmail, what should I do? I've never sent anything airmail before. Are there special stamps for that, do I just write "airmail" on it, do I have to take it to the post office and pay extra for it, etc.?
Hi Lauren81492! ;-)

Most post offices will give you a free "Airmail / Par Avion" (usually blue) sticker to paste on the envelope. {thumb2} I think most mail will automatically be by airmail (except if you didn't add enough postage to the envelope, it gets transfered to an alternative service) so you don't have to worry about that. :) Of course, you can just write the word "AIRMAIL" on the envelope too. You will pay the normal international postage rate, it doesn't cost more for airmail because, as I've just mentioned, it's the most common way of shipping overseas anyways.

Good luck!!
zanne

Re: Which UK stamps should I buy?

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:59 pm
by Lauren81492
Thanks, guys!
EastendersFan_x wrote:I'm guessing your not from the UK?
Yes, I'm from the US, sorry I forgot to specify.

So I went to the Royal Mail website, and I found some "2nd Class Large Letter" stamps. Are these what I want?

Re: Which UK stamps should I buy?

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:19 pm
by EastendersFan
Lauren81492 wrote:Thanks, guys!
EastendersFan_x wrote:I'm guessing your not from the UK?
Yes, I'm from the US, sorry I forgot to specify.

So I went to the Royal Mail website, and I found some "2nd Class Large Letter" stamps. Are these what I want?
Yes if your sending a 9x13 envelope back. You probably need to put 2 or 3 of those stamps on it to make sure - you might want to check with someone else as I'm not that experienced with sending overseas. {up}

Good Luck :D

Re: Which UK stamps should I buy?

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:59 pm
by osiris
For letters sent Airmail, size isn't really an issue (unlike internal mail). However, length, width and depth combined must not be greater than 900mm. The greatest single dimension must not exceed 600mm. I doubt it will, but there you go Don't forget to write "By Airmail/Par Avion" on the top left hand corner. There's no need to put a return address, since the address on the front will be your own anyway (they're only used if it's undeliverable i.e. they cant find you).

Under 10g: 56p
Under 20g: 81p
Under 40g: £1.22
Under 60g: £1.64

Regular stamps: 1st class (gold) stamps are worth 36p, 2nd class (blue) are worth 27p.
Large stamps : 1st class (gold) stamps are worth 52p, 2nd class (blue) are worth 42p.

You could therefore just buy 2nd class at 27p each and put however many you need on for the weight :)

Re: Which UK stamps should I buy?

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:26 pm
by Lauren81492
You guys' help has been invaluable to me, thanks so much!