U.S. Issues Its Only Certified Mail Stamp
U.S. Issues Its Only Certified Mail Stamp
On June 6, 1955, the U.S. Post Office issued its first and only Certified Mail Stamp, U.S. #FA1.
The U.S. first implemented a registered letter system on July 1, 1855. For the next 56 years, mailers could pay the registration fee, which ranged from five to twenty cents over these years, with cash or stamps.
In 1911, the U.S. Post Office issued a registration stamp for the prepayment of registry fees. This new stamp could only be used to pay the registry fee and was not valid for regular postage. It remained in use for less than two years, after which point the registration fee could be paid by using regular postage stamps.
Then in 1955 the U.S. Post Office announced that it would issue a new Certified Mail stamp. According to the Postmaster general at the time, “Certified Mail, a new service of the Post Office Department designed to give mail patrons most of the advantages of registered mail but at a lower cost and less trouble.”
Certified Mail service officially began on June 6, 1955 with the issue of #FA1. It could be used on first class mail for which the sender claimed no insurance, but wanted proof of delivery. Certified Mail is a form of registration – it gives mail special protection and provides the sender with proof of delivery. This was used in addition to the regular postage and required the recipient to sign for his letter or package upon delivery.
No additional Certified Mail stamps were ever issued after #FA1, but regular definitive stamps were often used to pay the fee.
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I was 5 years old when this stamp was issued. My father had just started teaching me about stamp collecting.
I have a question about the dates. The article states that, “Certified Mail service officially began on June 5, 1955 . . . ,” but the FDC shows June 6, 1955. Is this a typo, or is this another case where the USPS officially released stamps on one date, but had First Day Issues the next date? A longer article might have answered my question. Thanks as always for your great work!
Our eyes aren’t what they used to be….. (and I was born in 1955, too.)
I agree with ARG. I miss the longer articles. Either way, though, keep ’em coming!
There’s probably not a whole lot to say about this subject; thus the shorter article. I say great job, it says all I need to know about the Certified Mail stamp. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Great article. Maybe you should ask some of your readers to write articles on some of these subjects, then we could complain to the ones who wrote the article. How can you complain for something that is free? Spoiled bunch of people.
I love stamp collecting & appreciate your history lessons every day. However, since June 6th, 1944 is a extremely import date to remember – the Landing of Allies at France during WWII – I am somewhat disappointed that D-Day was not today’s stamp & history lesson. Every generation MUST learn of the bravery & sacrifice of men & women who lived and died that day to gain freedom for all of us. Thank you.
Here’s a link to the D-Day article for June 6, 1944:
https://stg-mysticstampdiscoverycenter-test.kinsta.cloud/this-day-in-history-june-6-1944/
THANKS FOR THE LINK TO LAST YEARS REPORT. Didn’t mean to be in all caps. Both articles are great….I think I like to longer ones best. A lot of times I skim the article and came back later in the day to read it all plus comments.