Postage values for nondenominated U.S. postage stamps

By Michael Baadke

For more than 30 years, the United States Postal Service issued various nondenominated stamps. Some were created in advance of rate changes, when the next letter rate still hadn’t been determined.

Once that rate was set, the new nondenominated stamp sold for that amount and, importantly, that designated postage value never changed.

The nondenominated Christmas stamps for 1975 (Scott 1579-1580B) were the first of these nondenominated rate-change stamps. Both were sold for 10¢, the letter rate when the stamps were issued, and if you plan to use one or the other on mail today, it still has only a 10¢ postage value.

Other nondenominated stamps have been issued to fulfill special mailing rates for bulk mailers, nonprofit groups and the like. These stamps are inscribed with the service designation, such as "NONPROFIT ORG." on the Art Deco Bird coil issued in 2011 (Scott 4495), but the nominal postage value does not appear on the stamp (in this case, it is 25¢).

To use these nondenominated stamps with a service indicator as postage, you need a permit, and you have to present your mail to a clerk at the post office.

Technically, the four U.S. nondenominated semipostal stamps issued to date also have assigned fixed postage values, but for some of these stamps, those values changed while the stamps were still on sale (Scott B1-B4).

However, if you bought a Breast Cancer Research semipostal in 1998, when it had a 32¢ postage value, you're supposed to add 17¢ in stamps if you want to use it to mail a letter in 2014, even though the exact same stamp is now sold in post offices with a 49¢ postage value.

Let's say we're operating on the honor system in this case.

Each U.S. semipostal is simply inscribed "First Class" with a plus sign.

Among the stamps, postage values and issue dates presented on these pages, the semipostals are shown with the postage rate that was in place when the stamp went off sale.

The Breast Cancer Research semipostal remains on sale in 2014, and is shown with the current first-class letter rate of 49¢.

The U.S. stamp situation changed considerably in 2007 with the introduction of the forever stamp, which sells for the going price of the domestic first-class letter rate, but remains valid for future letter rates forever, regardless of how much they might increase.

Global forever stamps, introduced in 2013, expand that concept to pay postage for international first-class letter mail, and remain valid for that rate, no matter how far it goes up.

The postage value for any forever stamp in September 2014 is 49¢, and for any global forever stamp is $1.15.

After forever stamps appeared on the scene, the Postal Service retired its nondenominated stamp concept for domestic letter mail, figuring correctly that the mailing public would save and use forever stamps at the new rate.

On the day of the new rate increase, the Postal Service simply starts charging its customers more for all of the forever stamps it has in stock, and for those it introduces after the increase.

Nondenominated U.S. Regular Postage Stamps
10¢ Scott 1579 Oct. 14, 1975	10¢ Scott 1580B Oct. 14, 1975	15¢ Scott 1735-36, 1743 May 22, 1978	18¢ Scott 1818-20 March 15, 1981	20¢ Scott 1946-48 Oct. 11, 1981	20¢ Scott 1939 Oct. 28, 1981
20¢ Scott 1940 Oct. 28, 1981	22¢ Scott 2111-13 Feb. 1, 1985	25¢ Scott 2277, 2279, 2282 March 22, 1988	29¢ Scott 2517-2520 Jan. 22, 1991	4¢ Scott 2521 Jan. 22, 1991	29¢ Scott 2522 Jan. 22, 1991
29¢ Scott 2578 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2579-81 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2582 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2583 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2584 Oct. 17, 1991	29¢ Scott 2585 Oct. 17, 1991
10¢ Scott 2602 Dec. 13 1991	10¢ Scott 2603-2604,2907 May 29, 1993; 1996	10¢ Scott 3270-3271 Dec. 14, 1998	3¢ Scott 2877-2878 Dec. 13, 1994	20¢ yellow background Scott 2879-2880 Dec. 13, 1994	32¢ white background Scott 2881-2887, 2889-2892 Dec. 13, 1994
25¢ blue background Scott 2888 Dec. 13, 1994	5¢ green background Scott 2893 1995	5¢ Scott 2902, 2902B March 10, 1995; 1996	10¢ Scott 2905-2906 March 10, 1995; 1996	15¢ Scott 2908-2910 March 17, 1995; 1996	25¢ Scott 2911-2912B, 3132 March 17, 1995; 1996; 1997
32¢ Scott 2948-2949 Feb. 1, 1995	5¢ Scott 2903-2904B March 16, 1996; 1997	5¢ Scott 3207, 3207A June 5, 1998; Dec. 14, 1998	25¢ Scott 3208, 3208A June 5, 1998; Sept. 30, 1998	10¢ Scott 3228-3229 Aug. 14, 1998	1¢ Scott 3257-3258 Nov. 9, 1998
33¢ Scott 3260, 3264-3269 Nov. 9, 1998	10¢ Scott 3447, 3769 Nov. 9, 2000; 2003	34¢ Scott 3448-3450 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 3451-3453 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 2455, 3459, 3464 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 3456, 3460, 3462 Dec. 15, 2000
34¢ Scott 3456, 3460, 3462 Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 3457, 3461, 3463  Dec. 15, 2000	34¢ Scott 3496 Jan. 19, 2001	10¢ Scott 3520, 3770 June 29, 2001; 2003	15¢ Scott 3522 Aug. 3, 2001	36¢ Scott 3620-3625 June 7, 2002
37¢ Scott 3626 June 7, 2002	37¢ Scott 3627 June 7, 2002	37¢ Scott 3628 June 7, 2002	37¢ Scott 3629 June 7, 2002	5¢ Scott 3693, 3775, 3785, 3864, 3874, 3875 Oct. 21, 2002; 2003; 2004	25¢ Scott 3792-3801, 3844-3853 June 26, 2003, 2004
39¢ Scott 3965-3975 Dec. 8, 2005	39¢ Scott 3976 Jan. 3, 2006	41¢ Scott 4129-4135 April 12, 2007	10¢ Scott 4157-4158 July 4, 2007	5¢ Scott 4495 Feb. 11, 2011	25¢ five different colors Scott 4585-4590 Jan. 3, 2012
49¢ (2014 postage value) Scott B1 July 19, 1998	37¢ (final 2002 postage value) Scott B2 June 27, 2002	37¢ (final 2003 postage value) Scott B3 Oct. 8, 2003	46¢ (final 2013 postage value) Scott B4 Sept. 20, 2011