The U.S. Postal Service submitted a proposal in May 2006 to the U.S. Postal Rate Commission to create a forever stamp beginning in 2007. Future forever stamps would be sold based on the first class rate at the time they are purchased.

More than 6 billion “forever” stamps have been sold since they were introduced last year. The USPS sold $267.7 million worth of them in March, up from $207.9 million in February and $115.3 million in January.

The advantages of a forever stamp to the consumer include the ability to stock up on first class postage at the current rate and use them until the supply is exhausted. It is likely that the Postal Service would limit the amount of forever stamps sold at one time. Also, as the rates change, it would no longer be necessary to buy two or three cent stamps to add to the old postage. For most consumers, the greatest advantage of a forever stamp is convenience.

An advantage to the postal service of a forever stamp is cash flow. The postal service obtains cash in the present for stamps that won’t be used until the future. Also, the postal service would not need to use employees to sell the obsolete two-cent stamps or to handle the rush of consumers seeking new higher-rate stamps.

The likelihood of people hoarding stamps is not expected to be a big problem. Most consumers don’t want the hassle of keeping track of a large quantity of stamps. Business mail is not likely to be overly affected, either, since most businesses use metered or preprinted postage rather than stamps.

Many countries, including Finland, Israel, Belgium, Brazil, and Great Britain, use non-denominated stamps, although the way they are used varies from country to country. Some countries refer to these as “stamps for standardized mail.” The United Kingdom first began using these types of stamps, which they call non-value indicators (NVIs), in 1989 to alleviate problems when postal rates change.

Colonists brought the European tradition to American, but the stateside love affair with mailing hearts-and-flowers sentiments didn’t really get under way until the mid-19th Century. The reason: it was a good deal.
 
Exasperated after a generation of spoils system incompetence and on the heels of a U.S. Postal Commission Report, Congress ordered a massive review of the Post Office and passed comprehensive reform legislation in 1845 to overhaul procedures. The legislators voted in a drop in rates and when February 14th rolled around, the penny-wise cost of sending a card set off what contemporaries of the time described as “Valentine mania.”
 
People sent cards to numerous objects of their affection, often taking advantage of the possibilities for anonymity that the mail provided. That was alarming to moralists who complained that the postal system, in general, “promoted promiscuity, illicit assignations, and the distribution of pornography.”
 
And actually, they weren’t entirely wrong about any of that!
 
The Valentine’s Day tradition really took hold during the Civil War years, 1861-1865, when cards often depicted sweethearts parting, or a tent with flaps that opened to reveal a soldier. (These popular cards were known as “windows.”)
 
By the time the craze tapered off a few decades later, people were sending each other cards for Christmas, Easter, and on their birthdays, as the holiday greeting cards became a fixture of American postal history
 

A decade later, Americans were buying and sending three million ready-made valentines. Today, approximately 190 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year.

Most cachetmakers repeat certain elements in each design they produce. It could be a border, or the basic design of the cachet, or distinctive typography. One cachet designer well known for continuity of style is F.R. Rice’s whose lifesaver-style border is found on about 75% of his designs. C. Stephen Anderson’s cachets consistently feature an illustration with an historical narrative printed below it.