Thread

1. joshmn · 1790721496 · focus · HN ↗

   The USPIS (mentioned in the article) once came to the federal prison I was at to tell inmates that using stamps as currency was illegal.

   There are flats and there are books. Flats are a sheet of 20 Forever stamps that you would get at a drug store. A book is 20 stamps, used or not used.

   Generally there are different values associated with flats because you can get cash for them on the streets. You can get them to the streets via an officer if you're ballsy. Or you can just find discreet ways to mail them.

   The value of a flat where I was at was about $13-$14 depending on your vendor. A book was generally worth $10. If you were buying bulk (and depending on who exactly you were buying from), that number could go down to $12 and $7 respectively.

   If you were buying from someone that was running a ticket (sports gambling) they had more incentive to get rid of their stamps. Some people had tens of thousands of dollars of stamps in their property and they wanted to convert them.

   If you were buying from someone running a store (think "buy and resell commissary"), their business model was dependent on flipping books of stamps in exchange for more commissary. They could sell a ramen for 3 stamps ($1.50) when it was worth just 50 cents.

   Flats were easier to hide because they are, well, flat.

   1. saalweachter · 1790728491 · focus · HN ↗

      I'm surprised to hear it's illegal to use stamps as currency, I wonder if that's just a prison thing.

      One piece of trivia that's stuck with me is that stamps were used as a substitute for coins when the latter were in short supply during the Civil War because of metal-hoarding. A 1-cent stamp was basically a paper penny, backed by the value of just being able to stick it on a letter.

      1. gblargg · 1790736466 · focus · HN ↗

         > I'm surprised to hear it's illegal to use stamps as currency

         It makes sense with forever stamps, because inflation doesn't hurt their value. If everyone used stamps instead of dollars, the government wouldn't be able to just print money to fund things. It's what the dollar should be (and was, before we went off the gold standard).

         1. Spooky23 · 1790739650 · focus · HN ↗

            Printing of money, coinage of silver, suspension of redemption and a dozen other schemes were used to control the money supply during the gold standard eras.

            There was plenty of volatility and inflation during those periods as well. The 16th century saw massive inflation in Europe, and the colonization and destruction of imperial China was driven by currency imbalances in trade.

         2. gucci-on-fleek · 1790743192 · focus · HN ↗

            > It makes sense with forever stamps, because inflation doesn't hurt their value.

            Inflation doesn't hurt their value, but the government can make the cost of postage lower at any time. This would be expensive and they would likely lose a lot of money, but it would still be a lot cheaper than quantitative easing.

            > If everyone used stamps instead of dollars, the government wouldn't be able to just print money to fund things.

            I realize that this isn't what you meant, but the government can literally just print more stamps whenever they want. In fact, stamps and dollars are both printed by the same company in Canada [0].

            [0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Canadian_Bank_Note_Company" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Canadian_Bank_Note_Company

            1. gblargg · 1790755940 · focus · HN ↗

               The stamps are backed (redeemable) by something real and fixed: shipping a first class letter. So they are more legitimate money (and not just currency) than dollars.

               1. blackguardx · 1790779759 · focus · HN ↗

                  This implies you have more trust in the U.S. Post Office continuity of existence and function than the &quot;full faith and credit of the United States.&quot;

                  1. gblargg · 1790784037 · focus · HN ↗

                     Just going by track record. The dollar has been reliable debased every year. Naturally if you have a time frame of decades, stamps would be ill-advised.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.