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The Myth of the Forever Stamp

Rosa Parks "forever" stamp; image published by United States Postal Service at https://www.usps.com/stamp-collecting/assets/images/470404-01-main-695x900.jpg
United States Postal Service “forever” stamp featuring Rosa Parks

Most people appreciated when the United States Postal Service started marketing the “pricelessForever Stamp in 1997. This was a great “do the right thing” moment, tacitly acknowledging that if you don’t use a stamp for a year or five, the Postal Service has still had the use of your money for that time and shouldn’t charge you extra to use it. It seems only fair that a First Class stamp should always cover the postage for a First Class letter.

The compromise was that the Forever stamp was usually pretty generic, such as the American flag stamp. If you wanted a commemorative stamp (such as a Christmas stamp, or one that featured someone important to American culture, such as Rosa Parks), it was going to depreciate like any other stamp.

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