18 U.S.C. § 1720: Reusing Canceled Stamps Is a Federal Crime

Yes, reusing a canceled postage stamp is illegal under federal law. 18 U.S.C. § 1720 makes it a crime to use, or try to use, a stamp that already bears a cancellation mark to pay for postage. For most people, a conviction is a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Postal employees face up to three years and a fine of up to $250,000.¹²

Whether the stamp actually traveled through the mail system doesn’t matter. If it carries a cancellation mark and you put it back on an envelope to avoid paying for postage, the statute reaches you.

The Law Covers More Than Just Sticking a Used Stamp on an Envelope

Section 1720 is written broadly. The core prohibition is reuse itself, but the statute also criminalizes the steps around it.¹

Removing or trying to remove a cancellation mark from a stamp, stamped envelope, or postal card, by chemical washing, scraping, or any other method.
Helping someone else remove those marks.
Knowingly possessing cleaned stamps with the intent to use them as postage.
Knowingly selling or offering to sell cleaned stamps.
Unlawfully and willfully removing a stamp from a piece of mail.

Someone caught with a stockpile of washed stamps can be charged before ever mailing anything with them. The supply chain is targeted as directly as the reuse itself.

Intent Is What Makes the Conduct Criminal

Every prohibited act under § 1720 requires the government to prove some form of intent or knowledge. Using a canceled stamp or removing a cancellation mark requires intent to reuse the stamp as postage or to sell it for that purpose. Possessing cleaned stamps requires that you knowingly had them and intended to use them. Selling them requires that you knowingly did so. Removing a stamp from mail must be both unlawful and willful.¹

That intent requirement is what separates criminal conduct from ordinary hobbies. A stamp collector buying canceled stamps at a flea market isn’t breaking the law, because there’s no intent to reuse them as postage. Soaking stamps off envelopes for a philatelic album is the same. Without the intent to defraud the Postal Service or return the stamp to service as postage, § 1720 doesn’t apply.

Penalties

General Offenders

For anyone who isn’t a postal employee, a conviction is a Class A misdemeanor. The maximum sentence is one year in prison, a fine, or both.¹ The offense qualifies as Class A because the maximum imprisonment is one year or less but more than six months.³ Under federal sentencing rules, the maximum fine for a Class A misdemeanor that doesn’t result in death is $100,000.²

A Forever stamp costs 78 cents. The gap between the savings and the exposure is stark.

Postal Employees

The statute reserves a harsher penalty for anyone employed by the Postal Service. A postal employee convicted under § 1720 faces up to three years in prison and a fine, or both.¹ Because the maximum term exceeds one year, this version is a Class E felony rather than a misdemeanor.³ The felony classification raises the maximum fine to $250,000.² A felony record also carries collateral consequences that outlast the sentence, including potential loss of voting rights, firearm restrictions, and near-certain termination from federal employment.

Reused Stamps Are Not the Same as Counterfeit Stamps

Section 1720 applies only to genuine stamps that have already been used. Fake or forged stamps that were never legitimately issued fall under a different statute, 18 U.S.C. § 501, which carries up to five years in prison.⁴ The Postal Inspection Service has warned that counterfeit stamps are often sold in bulk at 20 to 50 percent below face value, typically by vendors outside the United States. USPS does not sell stamps below face value, so deep discounts are a red flag, and buyers who knowingly use counterfeit postage face criminal liability alongside sellers.⁵

What Happens to Mail Sent With a Reused Stamp

Most postage problems get handled administratively rather than criminally. When processing equipment flags a piece of mail with no valid postage, USPS may return it to the sender, deliver it and collect the shortage from the recipient, or collect the shortage at the counter if the piece is caught at retail.⁶ Mail bearing counterfeit postage is treated more harshly: items are considered abandoned and may be opened and disposed of at the Postal Service’s discretion.⁵

Administrative handling doesn’t rule out a criminal referral. The Domestic Mail Manual expressly notes that reusing stamps with intent to cause loss to the government or USPS is punishable by fine and imprisonment.⁷ In practice, high-volume operations draw the most enforcement attention. A single reused stamp is unlikely to trigger a federal investigation; someone selling hundreds of washed stamps online is exactly the kind of target the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Revenue Investigations Program prioritizes.⁸

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 1720 – Canceled Stamps and Envelopes
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 3571 – Sentence of Fine
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 3559 – Sentencing Classification of Offenses
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 501 – Postage Stamps, Revenue Stamps, and Stamped Envelopes and Postal Cards
5
United States Postal Inspection Service. Counterfeit Postage
6
United States Postal Service. Postage Payment Methods and Refunds (DMM Archive)
7
Postal Explorer (USPS). Postage Payment Methods and Refunds
8
United States Postal Inspection Service. U.S. Postal Inspection Service Warns Consumers About Counterfeit Postage