How to Collect US Stamps

Stamps from US are infact the easiest to collect. We could start year wise collection or we could collect based on a topic (usually referred as topical collection). 

If you would like to start a yearwise collection, say starting this year; you could go to https://www.USPS.com and then select "Buy Stamps and Shop" tab. This will take you the collection of definitives, commemoratives, and other philatelic products issued by USPS. You could buy as you wish and pay only $1 as shipping. 

The problem with USPS site is, it does not list yearwise packs, instead they sell it as "Year books", that consists of Stamps issued in that year along with the book that describes why these stamps were issued and their speciality. The year books are a little expensive. The actual face value of stamps might be $30 (ex: 2008 year), but the Year Book is sold at $65, which is more than double of the stamps face value!!

So what I do is; I call 1-800-STAMP24 (1-800-782-6724) and ask for ex: "2008 year stamp packet". They ask for a customer ID, if you don't have one, tell them you are new customer and you need a Customer ID. This way, the next time you order, you could give your customer ID, and it becomes easier for them to understand and place your order.

So you might be thinking; that you might be interested in the Year Book, but don't want to pay that high price, right? Ok there is solution to that too. What I do is, I go to ebay  or http://www.alibris.com/  and then place the order for the year book alone, that way I might just pay only 2 or $3 for the books...sounds strange? But that is how it works!!

This is always the best way I thought I could order stamps, instead of buying the same stamps for much higher price from ebay and other places.

Now, if you are thinking how to collect older US stamps, I have many methods:

1. First Option: I check if USPS site has that stamp listed, if so, I get it from there
   
2. Second Option: I go to eBay. If it is too expensive; rather lately it is becoming expensive..sellers unfortunately want to make more profit..then I go to the next option
   
3. Check in Craig's List, if still no luck..
   
4. Check local flea market, sometime you might hit a jackpot...but be very careful, from my past experience, they tend to sell at a higher price, but you should be ready to bargain.
   
5. Still no luck of finding cheaper stamps...then let me research and tell you later...(sorry I am running out of ideas)
   
6. Just one request: Never buy directly from a Stamp Dealer..dude they tend to be very pricey!! (Again, this is my experience)
   

If you have better suggestions, please let me know.

I am going to update this blog when I get more information about US stamps..Meantime, I am going to create other blogs about what kind of stamps are available, how people collect it etc...so stay tuned...