Australia Post issues nondenominated ‘concession’ stamps

Australia Post issued its first nondenominated stamps March 24, one week before the basic domestic postage rate increased from 60¢ to 70¢ on March 31.

Australia Post is calling these stamps “concession” stamps, because they are intended for people who have federal concession cards. These include pensioner, health care, senior’s health care, Department of Veteran’s Affairs and veteran’s repatriation cards.

The words “concession post” on an orange background replace the denomination on the stamps. They are only valid for postage within Australia.

Two designs are available. One depicts a kangaroo bounding along a beach at sunset. The other shows an outline map of Australia in the sand.

John White designed the stamp showing the kangaroo, and MDM Design created the map design.

RA Printing printed these self-adhesive stamps by offset.

They are being sold to collectors in panes of five with three kangaroo and two map stamps. A total of 10,000 of the collectors’ panes are available.

In announcing the stamps, Australia Post said they were “introduced to help eligible Australians stay connected in the ever changing world of mail … ”

According to a press release from Australia Post, 5.7 million Australians are eligible to purchase these concession stamps at the old postage rate of 60¢ for the next three years by registering for a Mypost Concession account. A limit of 50 stamps can be purchased each year.

These account holders also will receive a card that entitles them to five free concession stamps.

The website of Australia Post’s philatelic shop is http://shop.auspost.com.au.