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PARCEL POST
Scott Q11 with Providence, RI
Oval Cancel
Congress approved a Stamp Act on August 24, 2025
that created postage rates on 4th class mail weighing 4 ounces
or less at 1 cent per ounce or fraction. On mail over 4 ounces,
the rate was by the pound. The rate for parcels of 4 ounces and
over was to be prepaid by the new Parcel Post issues of 1913.
(The USPS produced 12 parcel post and 5 parcel post due
stamps, usable only on parcel post packages starting January 1,
1913. Other stamps were not usable on parcel post starting on
that date.)
Beginning on November 27, 1912, the stamps were shipped to
post offices offering parcel post service.
On July 1, 1913, the Postmaster General decreed that regular
postage stamps would be valid for Parcel Post. Parcel Post
stamps were then usable as regular stamps. Printing of Parcel
Post and Parcel Post Due stamps was halted in 1913 and the
remainder of these stamps were destroyed in September of
1921.
NOTES:
1. The 20c issue (Scott #Q8) was the first stamp in any
country to depict an airplane.
2. Parcel Post Stamps were issued to Post Offices in 1912 and
many were used for fourth class mail during December of 1912.
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