Postcard Stamps and Postcard Postage
When it comes to postcard stamps it's important to keep your local post office as happy as possible!
This a smart move on your behalf because your postcards get delivered to your potential customers, plus the post office get to do their job well too - deliver the mail!
What you may have noticed when enquiring about postcard postage or sending a postcard is that there are certain mailing requirements to follow.
In the USA, the most reliable delivery method is called First-Class mail.
There are two parts to First-Class mail:
- Stamped cards and postcards
- Letters, flats and parcels.
Chasing Down Postcard Stamps
To keep things from getting complicated, let's focus on the stamped cards and postcards section.
Because there's quite a lot of mailing requirements involved, it might be worth your while to check in at your local post office to get the full story on the correct postcard postage!
Generally speaking, a 'stamped card' is where you have a postage stamp printed or impressed on your postcard.
1893 French Republic postage stamp
Your postcard must be of uniform thickness and approximately the quality and weight of a stamped card.
Plus, there's a few essential ingredients to getting your postcard delivered...
- How you write the recipient's address
- How the address is placed on the postcard
- Plus the zip code and legibility of the writing on the postcard...
Get one of these steps wrong and your postcard might be on its way right back to your mailbox!
No doubt prices are always going to fluctuate - but as a general guide (for USA) the postcard postage price for a single postcard is around $0.30. (Pre-sorted First Class is slightly less than that).
Postcard postage and payment methods used on postcards are as follows:
- Precanceled stamp
- Meter or permit imprint, or
- Adhesive stamp
NB. It's been estimated that about two billion dollars are lost each year on the cost of materials, labor and postage associated with undeliverable-as-addressed mail!
Using a First Class Permit Imprint Indicia
This is where you might see a postcard with a sort of imprinted or stamped permit on it - instead of a normal 'stick on' postcard postage stamp.
Lenin postcard postage stamp
These imprints are called a First Class indicia and to get this happening you have to apply for a mailing permit ($150 at last count) at your local post office.
(You have to bring these particular postcards into your post office - not deposit them into your local street collection box!)
The good news of course is that A) your local post office will give you the full story on finding the correct postcard-stamp price and...
B) most online postcard printers will know exactly what the postcard postage requirements involve!
All you need to do now is get your postcard designs ready!
Here's where to find the exact postcard stamp price
Click here to find out more about postcard postage
Explore our site further for more humbled postcard price guides!
