Our most recent meeting of the New York Chapter USPCS took place on Tuesday, March 8, when Wade Saadi presented Part 2 of his fabulous Parcel Post Postage Due exhibit (Foreign uses). While Wade’s previous talk focused on the domestic uses of this elusive set of stamps, his latest talk looked at a wide variety of covers mailed from various foreign destinations to the U.S. In each case, postage due on the letter was indicated with Parcel Post Postage Due (PPPD) stamps, sometimes in combination with regular postage due stamps.
As Wade pointed out, the use of PPPD stamps on regular mail was allowed beginning July 1, 1913, but these uses are still relatively scarce. Some of Wade’s covers reflected 10 cent postage due (double the standard 5 cent UPU rate), which was often paid with two five cent PPPD stamps but sometimes with a single 10 cent PPPD stamp. The latter was a much scarcer use. A more atypical example was a unique cover with 10 one cent PPPD stamps covering its back!
A few countries had a special two cent treaty rate, that required four cents in postage due if not properly franked. Wade showed a number of covers with the four cents paid with one or two cent PPPD stamps.
Some of the more spectacular items included: 10 cent PPPD stamp used on cover with several Chinese stamps, sent via Siberia; two one cent PPPD stamps used on cover from Figi; two 2 cent PPPD stamps used on a private ship letter with a rare “Ship 4” handstamp. But the most spectacular item was a parcel front sent from Japan to NYC and re-mailed to Denmark. This cover was franked with six Japanese stamps, three 5 cent PPPD stamps, a 30 cent Washington Franklin stamp and a one dollar Parcel Post stamp! Clearly a unique item.