Airmail stamps were used to send mail by air, initially as a more expensive option. Airmail became popular due to its speed and efficiency. Today, airmail is no longer a separate category, but some international mail may still be designated as such. Stamp collectors are interested in airmail stamps for their historical significance and aviation designs, including the famous Inverted Jenny stamp.
Airmail stamps, also known as airmail stamps, are postage stamps affixed to mail that is to be sent by air. Historically, airmail was a separate and more expensive category of the shipping options provided to post office customers. Today, most nations have abolished “airmail” as a category, although some types of international mail may be designated as airmail, depending on where it is travelling.
As soon as the airplane was invented, airmail was developed. Initially, mail was brought onto planes as a novelty and the system was not well organized. Postal officials quickly realized the potential of airmail as a delivery option, noting that consumers would no doubt pay more for faster delivery, and that airmailing mail could significantly speed up routes. Using airmail, letters could travel across oceans in hours, rather than days by ship, and within national borders, lengthy delivery processes could be streamlined with the use of planes.
The airmail stamp was a special stamp that could be purchased to cover the full cost of sending something by airmail or to cover the extra cost charged to upgrade to airmail service. Placing an airmail stamp on a letter alerted post office staff that the consumer had paid for the higher rate and that the mail should specifically travel by air, not by any other means.
Today, most mail spends at least some time in an airplane, making an airmail designation less meaningful. Instead, consumers can choose from a number of classes; in the United States, for example, Express Mail is designed to move mail as quickly as possible. For international mail, people sometimes use airmail stamps and pay an airmail fee to ensure that the mail travels by plane and not by ship. If a post office offers airmail as an option, airmail stamps will be available, although consumers should be willing to pay a premium to send parcels and letters by airmail.
Stamp collectors are often interested in airmail stamps as historic items that reflect the history of the postal service and also because they tend to commemorate the history of aviation. Many of these stamps included designs that featured prominent aircraft, along with patriotic themes, which made them visually interesting. One of the most famous airmail stamps is the Inverted Jenny, the result of a 1918 printing error made in the United States Post Office. On these stamps, the plane depicted is actually upside down, because the stamp sheets were not fed through the press correctly.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
