Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 June 9

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June 9 edit

USA Forever edit

Looking at this page of stamps from the US Postal Service, I was struck by the fact that many of the stamps have "USA Forever" printed on them. Why is "Forever" struck out? DuncanHill (talk) 23:46, 9 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The denomination would be struck out to void possible use -- "forever" stamps don't have denomination, since they are valid "forever" even if the price changes. —2606:A000:1126:4CA:0:98F2:CFF6:1782 (talk) 23:58, 9 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, I see, thanks. I thought perhaps it was some sort of "Lo, all our pomp of yesterday, Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!" moment. DuncanHill (talk) 00:50, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for that obscure reference, lest we forget. 2606:A000:1126:4CA:0:98F2:CFF6:1782 (talk) 01:31, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The UK doesn't sell forever stamps? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:25, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but they have "1st" and "2nd" on them, for 1st and 2nd class postage (Do we have an article on postage class?). Other stamps have the price in pence on them. Rojomoke (talk) 05:53, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
See Mail#First-Class, written in a rather US-centric manner alas. DuncanHill (talk) 15:05, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
If you scroll down that page you will notice that the $1, $2 and $5 dollar stamps also have lines through the values. This is to make is difficult for people to copy those images from the website, then print them and try to use their homemade versions to pay postage. Wymspen (talk) 15:06, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Before the "Forever" stamps came to be, an illustration of a stamp would typically have had a diagonal line striking through the value, like this:  .    → Michael J    01:02, 12 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]