33 Comments
Feb 1, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

I had to go look up barcoded stamps - we don’t have them in Canada! Very interesting. I don’t mail letters nearly enough anymore; I used to write letters to my cousins pre-getting internet at home, and I would take my 46 cents to the post office across the way and get a new stamp for my latest letter. That feels like ages ago - and stamps are now $1.07 each (or 92 cents each if you buy a book of them. I nearly passed out on my last purchase of a book of 10).

Expand full comment

Lovely share as always Rebecca!

Lucky Terry getting some snail mail.

I honestly don’t get the barcode thing - I nearly left it on the backing paper and used the stamp without it!

Am I being silly here? Why’s it necessary? - also not ready to accept a king on a stamp so I’m not sure what it all means but could be a whole session with a therapist I think lol!

Change is uncomfortable sometimes and I guess in ALL the changes we’ve faced growing up in life stamps have always just been the same - a consistent in life’s unpredictable and fast paced way of being, a nice ritual and connect at Christmas and odd other times we decide we must buy a book and send smiles through the post... Cx

Expand full comment

The barcodes sound interesting, but I'm not sure how I would feel about the massive stamps either... I guess anything that makes things easier is a plus. I was very excited when they introduced "forever" stamps here in the US which meant that even if postage rates change, the stamps are still considered full postage. Nothing was worse than getting a bill returned due to insufficient postage and then resending it late :-(

Expand full comment

Great post, Rebecca. I'll say more in my missive to you, but I thought we'd get loadsa money back, but instead we got a load of stamps. When we're ever going to use them , heaven knows.

Expand full comment
Feb 1, 2023·edited Feb 2, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

Ah yes, real life letters. Whatever happened to those? It's been a long time since I've received one.

I'm not surprised you sent a snail mail. It was only a moment of time until you did. Seeing as how you both live in the UK, it was inevitable. I bet it was a delight for Terry to receive such a thing.

I haven't used a stamp myself in awhile. I just looked it up and a book of 20 will cost me $12.60. Yikes!

Surprisingly, I looked up how much it would cost to send a letter internationally and it said as long as it is under 1 oz (4 pieces of computer paper), it would only cost $1.45. I thought it would be much higher.

Expand full comment
Feb 2, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

Cool, Rebecca. We don't have bar code stamps in the US, but for my ebay business, I run postage labels on line via ebay to tape on my packages and those have bar codes and QR codes. SO maybe stamps will too soon. BTW, I have subscribed to T. Freedman's newsletter based on your correspondence with him. I look forward to perusing his archive.

Expand full comment
Feb 2, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

This made me laugh out loud a few times.

Expand full comment
Feb 3, 2023Liked by Rebecca Holden

Great post and, as a fellow Leftie, I have to say that you have great handwriting!

Expand full comment

Great post Rebecca! Stamps are so expensive but I love writing letters. One of my goals this year is to write one friend or family member each week. I've really been enjoying it. Thanks again for sharing

Expand full comment

I'm a bit baffled by the point of the barcode, but I think here in the US they print on barcodes to envelopes so maybe this skips that step? It will make a letter look that much less charming I think?

Expand full comment