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Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 3:35 pm
by potterhead94
Hi,

I am from the netherlands and I was wondering which stamps I should use for receiving a reply on my fan mail letter. As I use SASE,

Is it possible to use a first class britsih stamp from england to the Netherlands ?
And is it possible to use the Global Forever Stamps for a letter from USA to the Netherlands ?

If it isn't right please help me out!

Thanks!

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:09 pm
by kimmylee
potterhead94 wrote:Hi,

I am from the netherlands and I was wondering which stamps I should use for receiving a reply on my fan mail letter. As I use SASE,

Is it possible to use a first class britsih stamp from england to the Netherlands ?
And is it possible to use the Global Forever Stamps for a letter from USA to the Netherlands ?

If it isn't right please help me out!

Thanks!
Yes that is exactly right.
USA Global Forever Stamps one should be enough but do check on the price of your return item at http://www.usps.com where they have a price calculator.

For the UK you will need more than one First Class Stamp, as of March 31st each one will be worth £0.62 and the airmail cost will exceed that.

Royal Mail has a postal calculator and a list of the upcoming price changes (pdf )

I would personally use the 2014 prices and not the current 2013 once since you never know how long your celeb will take to return the item to you {up}

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:30 pm
by potterhead94
Thanks very much for your help. This helps a lot to continue with my collection.

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:09 pm
by stillluckyas13canbe
kimmylee wrote:
potterhead94 wrote:Hi,

I am from the netherlands and I was wondering which stamps I should use for receiving a reply on my fan mail letter. As I use SASE,

Is it possible to use a first class britsih stamp from england to the Netherlands ?
And is it possible to use the Global Forever Stamps for a letter from USA to the Netherlands ?

If it isn't right please help me out!

Thanks!
Yes that is exactly right.
USA Global Forever Stamps one should be enough but do check on the price of your return item at http://www.usps.com where they have a price calculator.

For the UK you will need more than one First Class Stamp, as of March 31st each one will be worth £0.62 and the airmail cost will exceed that.

Royal Mail has a postal calculator and a list of the upcoming price changes (pdf )

I would personally use the 2014 prices and not the current 2013 once since you never know how long your celeb will take to return the item to you {up}

Remember that if you use first class or second class stamps to help make up the total value on the SASE, those will increase in value with the price increase, in the same way as US forever stamps carry the current value of the service.

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:22 pm
by kimmylee
I should have said that, yes so thank you.

I didn't give the current value of £0.60 though but the upcoming one :)

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:42 pm
by stillluckyas13canbe
kimmylee wrote:I should have said that, yes so thank you.

I didn't give the current value of £0.60 though but the upcoming one :)

Wasn't a criticism of you ;) Just making sure the OP knew that it works like that and they could buy the stamps now and use them when the price has increased.

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:57 pm
by potterhead94
Do you mean that I should write the value of the stamp on the envelope ?
Because I don't really understand your comment.
I guess; you only have to use 2 first class stamps on the return envelope ? because the value of the stamp will be higher.

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:30 pm
by stillluckyas13canbe
potterhead94 wrote:Do you mean that I should write the value of the stamp on the envelope ?
Because I don't really understand your comment.
I guess; you only have to use 2 first class stamps on the return envelope ? because the value of the stamp will be higher.
Sorry, will try and explain better.

US Global Forever Stamps work because whatever the value of the stamp at the time of posting, is the value USPS gives to the stamp. So if you bought one today, for $1, and used it in two years when it would cost you $1.20, your Forever stamp would be worth the $1.20.

The same idea applies to Royal Mail 1st and 2nd class stamps (both regular and large). Right now a second class stamp costs 50p, so you could buy one for that price. Next month the price goes up to 53p, so it would cost you more to buy next month. If you have them already, you can use these stamps next month and they will be worth the higher amount.

Does that make sense?

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:36 pm
by kimmylee
potterhead94 wrote:Do you mean that I should write the value of the stamp on the envelope ?
Because I don't really understand your comment.
I guess; you only have to use 2 first class stamps on the return envelope ? because the value of the stamp will be higher.
March 31st prices and stamp values go up in the UK. So I would use the price chart already linked which has the new prices, and £0.63 will be the value of a First Class stamp.

You need to look at the prices for your item, and then work out how many stamps you will need to use, my guess would be 3, I think 2 would be a few pence short even with the new value.

In the US it's easier because the Global Forever stamp is a stamp designed for the minimum value of an airmail letter.

In the UK First Class stamps are used in the same way but for UK domestic post, so Airmail will cost more than one first class stamp, as international mail costs more to send than domestic.

There is no problem using them however for Airmail as long as the value of stamps meets the cost of Airmail.

Re: Which stamps ?

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:26 pm
by potterhead94
Thank you both this helps a lot. I think I will use the calculator on both websites, to be sure of it.