Uk postage stamps???

I'm not sure of the right place to post this.

Does anyone know what kind of postage stamp is needed to send Christmas cards to the US?

I know that in the US ,a regular stamp will get a letter here. But at the grocery store ,when I tried to buy stamps (here in the Uk) the cashier told me that UK first class stamps were only good "within the Uk"


I have about 50 cards to mail from UK to US. What kind of stamps am I supposed to ask for, and what do they cost? Anyone?


                                            Thanks!

To the US you need stamps which show the value.

Rate table here

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=53800712&catId=400036

The USA is "rest of the world"

It depends on the weight (and, I think, size) of your cards. There's no standard rate to the US. This is why you should ALWAYS buy the smallest, lightest cards possible to go overseas!

If you have an accurate scale (preferably digital), you can pay for postage online and print it out yourself from the Royal Mail website. This is pretty handy if you can't get to a post office.

It depends on the weight (and, I think, size) of your cards. There's no standard rate to the US. This is why you should ALWAYS buy the smallest, lightest cards possible to go overseas!

If you have an accurate scale (preferably digital), you can pay for postage online and print it out yourself from the Royal Mail website. This is pretty handy if you can't get to a post office.

Unfortunately mailing cards individually to the US is quite pricey.  If you can have a friend or family member hand out cards or even willing to post them for yyou within the US you you may want to look at grouping them to sending them that way in a big padded envelope - sending like 20 cards in a padded envelope costs me approximately £2.50-5 to mail to the US as opposed to £1-1.50 per card to mail to the US.    (Depending on the size & weight of cards being sent, as well as any other gifts I send over - usually calendars.)

Another option for future is you may want to invest in a good quantity of Forever Stamps form the USPS and stamping all the letters and asking a friend or family member to mail the cards for you after you send them in bulk from the UK...

When you go to the post office to mail your letters you need to inform them that you have x amount of letters to send to the USA.  They'll have you put each one on the scale and depending on weight will either give you stamps to lick and put on each card (which can end up being several of different amounts to equal the cost you need) or if over £1 they'll print out a sticker, but this will usually need to be done on every single card / letter.  

Good luck!  

as opposed to £1-1.50 per card to mail to the US.   :

That's a lot! Small cards only cost about 60p each to post!

That's a lot! Small cards only cost about 60p each to post!

Yeah, I know - I'm a sucker 'cause I just buy regular cards.  I just stopped buying smaller cards as when I was living in the states I once bought smaller than average cards and posted them and the post office returned them to me stating they were too small to post or some other lame excuse and I just remember they weren't that small - probably bigger than "small" cards here in the UK!     Gotta love the USPS.

I don't have many to send anymore - mostly just family around the US.  I usually send them in 2 packages now as I have Sheffield / English calendars to send to family as gifts each year too... Family on either coast, so send them in 2 packages and they get distributed to family that way and my family will usually post any cards I include for friends for me.

To the US you need stamps which show the value.

Oops.  I totally made this mistake last week... I weighed what I was sending and everything to make sure I had the correct rate, but it didn't even occur to me that the stamps I had wouldn't work.  The letter even contained a check! Yikes.

To the US you need stamps which show the value.

This is not necessarily true.  I once asked a post office employee if I could use 2 or 3 first class stamps to get a very light letter to the US.  They said as long as the combined value of 2 or 3 first class stamps was more than the value needed to send the letter that was fine.  Saved me standing in a queue for 30 minutes around x-mas time, but definitely NOT an economical way to do it.  I probably spent an extra 20-30p for one letter cause I put 3 stamps on it.  The letter did get to the US.

This is not necessarily true.  I once asked a post office employee if I could use 2 or 3 first class stamps to get a very light letter to the US.  They said as long as the combined value of 2 or 3 first class stamps was more than the value needed to send the letter that was fine.  Saved me standing in a queue for 30 minutes around x-mas time, but definitely NOT an economical way to do it.  I probably spent an extra 20-30p for one letter cause I put 3 stamps on it.  The letter did get to the US.

me too... i always just put 2 or 3 first class stamps on cards to the US, and they've always arrived.  I know I am probably spending more than I need to, but it's worth it for the convenience (queueing in the post office is a pain to me).

This is not necessarily true.  I once asked a post office employee if I could use 2 or 3 first class stamps to get a very light letter to the US.  They said as long as the combined value of 2 or 3 first class stamps was more than the value needed to send the letter that was fine.  Saved me standing in a queue for 30 minutes around x-mas time, but definitely NOT an economical way to do it.  I probably spent an extra 20-30p for one letter cause I put 3 stamps on it.  The letter did get to the US.

I have sent letters overseas like that too.

I gave the answer I did based on what I learned when I used to work for the Post Office some years ago now (early - mid 1990s) in those days you absolutely had to use stamps with values on them for all mail outside the UK, but I see in the Wikipedia article on "Non-denominated postage" that in 1995, the Universal Postal Union approved the use of No Value Indicated stamps (NVIs) on international mail, so that figures.