The US Government Printing Office is the official publisher of the US government. At one time the GPO issued checks for refunds for overpaymnets or where the publication was no longer available. Here is an example of a GPO check from the early 1900s. After WWII it became cumbersome to write checks for refunds. In the late 1940s, the GPO began issuing coupons for refunds. The coupons carried dates and serial numbers. There are even color varieties within some years. Here are two different coupons from 1955 -- one with red lettering and one with black. Initially they only issued 5 cent coupons. Eventually, they issued 25 and 50 cent coupons. As best I can tell, they stopped issuing the coupons in the mid-1970s. The latest date I have seen is 1974.
yes... yet ANOTHER 1st .. stop it already .. i am to the point where i think i know everything.. do ruin it for me
What amazes me is that check would be written for 5 cents. If postage was another 3 cents, things get expensive fast for old uncle sam.
Interesting. So why did the government issue 3 cent coins from 1851 to 1889 ostensibly to pay for postage? That's a partial explanation given by a number of coin books. Did postage go down in the mid 1880's?
Here's a chart of first class postage rates, showiing the alternating 2¢/3¢ rate from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. (Scroll down to see the chart.)
