The Penny Exploit: Stamps Galore

SummaryBlock

What exactly can a penny buy these days? This is a question often asked. Google the question and you will find a few answers. Not much, apparently, according to most. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually set out to make purchases for one cent. This blog documents the various items I scored for a penny or less.

What qualifies a purchase as a penny loot? The cost of anything mentioned in this blog includes the purchase price, tax, shipping and handling fee, if any. If a rebate is involved, the postage to mail it is part of the cost. If a coupon is bought and used in the deal, that figures into the total as well. And the total cost must be equal to or less than US$0.01. The item must also be procured from a source available to the public - "My aunt gave me a sweater" doesn't count.

Some costs are not included in the one cent total. Chief among them is the time and effort to hunt for and complete the deals. Gas and mileage is not counted if a trip to the store is required. Computer and office equipment amortization, paper and ink expenditures are all excluded.

As expected, quite a few of the items I bought came from China. Depending on your tastes and needs, some of the stuff may be considered totally worthless. But that is not the point of this exercise.

This blog also does not dwell on where and how the items were bought. I frequent a few deal sites for information that lead to some of the purchases. The various auction sites are also a treasure trove to explore. But I would rather devote the blog to present the results - the items I obtained for a penny or less, in no particular order.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Stamps Galore

I like stamps. They take me around the world and back in history. I went on a buying spree last week. The result is the largest 1 cent deal in dollar amount I have reached so far. I spent an astronomical sum of $1.90 for 190 individual items. Most of them were valued at 20 cents each by the original owner. Here are a few that were valued higher:

This is from Poland. They were obviously loved and well cared for. All came with nice protective holders. The price is 1 cent for each holder and its contents.

This is an Australian import. I like the seller very much and have been a customer a few times. But there was a glitch this time around. The seller did not pay enough postage to ship the stamps, and the post office charged me $1.85 due to insufficient postage. That would have prevented me from showing these stamps here as it would have made the cost more than 1 penny each. But the nice seller agreed to repay me $2 to make up for the postage so here they are, finally made the list.

This one is from Barbados. But the value on the holder may or may not be accurate. I am not a serious stamp collector so I don't know enough to evaluate them.