Help with stamp value please.

[cjacki]

If a stamp is marked 15 + 3 cents then it is worth 18 cents, right?  Lots of old stamps in different values have this i.e. 20 + 5 ( 25 cents), 10 + 5 cents, etc. This was done years & years ago when the Post Office had a mid-year increase (if I recall correctly).  Will there be a problem using these for full value at the post office?

Any thoughts?

Thank you

[coolthings123]

To my knowledge they are known as semi-postals.    They are used to raise money for different things such as the Olympics.  The first amount was for the postage and the + amount was designated for the Olympics.  

[coolthings123]

Also, again to my knowledge they are worth the full value of the stamp.

[pierrelebel]

"If a stamp is marked 15 + 3 cents then it is worth 18 cents, right?"

Sorry.  The postage value of the stamp is only $0.15

Many such stamps were issued in 1974-1976 with the surcharge going to the Montreal Olympics.

http://pierrelebel.com/pics/Canada11/B1-B12.JPG

[mr.elmwood]

I never knew that.

[ricarmic]

It is scary how many PO folks don't know either...... over the course of years I've had several "fill in/temporary" PO folks tell me that I was overpaying as they were counting the "donation" part too! Which is also interesting as they've been selling modern semipostals for several years now (they have a +10c toward mental health) it would be understandable in the decades when there weren't any semipostals but not in the last few years....when they have always been on sale....

[pierrelebel]

Semi-postal stamps (portion of the price went to charity) have been around since the late 19th century and were used widely in the early 20th century - mostly in Europe.

Interested readers can take a few minutes and enjoy their abbreviated history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-postal

[cjacki]

Glad I asked. Thank you.

[mr.elmwood]

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@ricarmic wrote:
It is scary how many PO folks don't know either...... over the course of years I've had several "fill in/temporary" PO folks tell me that I was overpaying as they were counting the "donation" part too! Which is also interesting as they've been selling modern semipostals for several years now (they have a +10c toward mental health) it would be understandable in the decades when there weren't any semipostals but not in the last few years....when they have always been on sale....

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Why would they know if was all before their time?

We are in the midst of a generational change where all the baby-boomers are retiring and taking our knowledge of the past with us.

When I stormed out mad, quit, er, graciously retired, I took a lot of knowledge with me. Knowledge of how things worked, why, how they evolved, what a product was, why, etc. Why on earth would a person, who was born AFTER a product was discontinued, know anything about that product?

That then becomes old people stories "Lemme tell ya about the old days". "I had to walk ten miles to school, uphill both ways, snow up to my waist".

[pierrelebel]

"born AFTER a product was discontinued,"

A few years ago, I needed an extra one cent stamp on a parcel.  I used two half cent stamps issued in 1908 under King Edward VII. The stamps were mint with original gum but damaged and not suitable for collectors.  They showed images of the Prince and Princess of Wales - soon to become King George V and Queen Mary.

The look on the face of the postal clerks was..... priceless!

[ricarmic]

Hi Mr E.! The 8+2c etc stamps from the Olympics were certainly before many PO folks time but they sell P+10c stamps today, so the concept of the semipostal +10c has been around and in use for the last 5 years....the mental health semipostals, which a new one comes out each year and the PO folks are scripted to ask if you want to support it, have come out each of the last 5 years now....(for those detail oriented readers, there was also one issued in 1996, the +5c went to Family Literacy)