The USPS is making every commemorative stamp a Forever stamp. Here’s a thought about the impact of that decision.

The switch to issuing all Forever stamps is still pretty new. Postal workers are still in the mode of verifying that proper postage is affixed for first class mail.

What about, say, five years from now? Postal workers will be in the habit that all commemorative stamps are Forever stamps. All of the “pretty” stamps pay the first class letter rate. Will you be able to take a modern looking stamp, say from the 32 cent issues or later, and use it on a letter? Will it go through without postage due?

I previously commented how some stamp issues have denominations that are difficult to read because they are so small or they are lost in the details of the stamp design. To speed the mail along, who is going to take the time to hunt for the denomination on the stamp?

In five years, after lots of Forever commemorative stamps have been issued, a postal worker may see it and think, “I don’t see the denomination. It must be a Forever stamp from a couple years ago that I don’t remember.” With all of the other automation going on at the USPS, who’s going to notice?

I’m not advocating that you deliberately underpay the postage. However, I easily see this happening in a couple of years by people looking to cheat the postal service. In many cases, they may get away with it.