Postage

The world wide postal system comprising the individual national postal systems of the world's self governing states is coordinated by the Universal Postal Union, which among other things sets international postage rates, and defines standards for postage. Postage stamps are an object of a particular form of collecting, and in some cases, when demand greatly exceeds supply, their commercial value on this specific market may become enormously greater than face value, even after use. Worldwide, the most common method of prepaying postage is by buying an adhesive postage stamp to be applied to the envelope before mailing a much less common method is to use a postage prepaid envelope. Various postal automation systems and suppliers allow users to design envelopes, postcards, and labels with postage, color graphics, logos, pictures, text messages, and rubber stamps. Postage scales can help increase mailing efficiency by reducing overpayment on mailings.