Well, at least I got to have a haircut in the Penny Lane barber shop. 23 Sep 2020 10:29:50pm
To get a first day cover now, you have to send your own stamped envelope -- often stuck with buying sheets of 10 or 20 -- to USPS in St. Louis.
In the olden 1960s, we sent a self-addressed UNstamped envelope to the city of issue ahead of time and waited until a few days after the first day. We didn't often see what the stamp would look like until we got our FDC.
But how did we pay for them. Stamps? Coins? I can't imagine asking my mom to write a check for 5 or 8 cents!
Don, I presume the regulations have been changed at sometime to allow the "collectible" covers that have a coin on the front of the envelope.
Or do they come to the purchaser in a plain brown wrapper. Probably get lost in the post otherwise.
Well, at least I got to have a haircut in the Penny Lane barber shop. 25 Sep 2020 07:58:47am
re: Memory Lapse Question
USPOD must not have enforced that 1880s rule because, like Musicman, I sent coins (plus Ovaltine labels?) to pay for a Captain Midnight Decoder and other juvenile temptations. X-Ray Spex always seemed to good to be true.
and I have a banker's box full of marketing mailers with dimes from the March of Dimes and nickles from feed the hungry and three pennies, which will feed....
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
I sent coins plus a #6 addressed envelope (or 2) for my FDCs. I remember sending coins taped to a filler card plus some #6s to the Canal Zone to obtain FDCs for the missing bridge error that the USPOD was supposed to reprint, but was stopped by a court decision brought by the HE Harris company if my memory serves me right. It was all returned to me, coins and all.
The one cover I ever sent off to get a first day cancel was for the Mississippi statehood stamp. I enclosed a regular size self-addressed envelope in a business envelope with an index card with a coin taped to it. I still have the cancelled first day cover that was returned to me.
Well, at least I got to have a haircut in the Penny Lane barber shop. 01 Oct 2020 12:40:59pm
re: Memory Lapse Question
Thanks to recent posters copy and jb.
The coin/tape technique sounds familiar. I can see why USPS prefers its mostly automated process. But it does take away the suspense of not seeing the design until it arrives with the First Day cancellation.
I remember my disappointment, though, at first seeing the drab JFK stamp on my home-made FDC.
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