Yes Safeway has sold books of USPS Forever stamps from their locations for a number of years. They offer a great location to pick up some postage stamps while doing your weekly shop. It is worth noting that you are only able to be a sheet of stamps (20 stamps) and that individual stamps are not available. The price of the sheet of stamps is sold at the same price as you would find at a USPS store or kiosk. Many stores are open from 8am to 10pm or even later so if you have a hectic schedule they can be a great place to buy stamps outside of regular business hours.
Types Of Stamps Sold At Safeway
Safeway sells books of Forever postage stamps. A book is a batch of 20 stamps. With Forever stamps you don’t need to worry about the price of stamps increasing and these stamps loosing their value. Forever stamps have a guaranteed value so if the price of postage goes up the value of the stamps increases as well to match.
Safeway does not sell individual postage stamps so if you’re just looking to send a few letters and don’t want to save the stamps for later it might be worth finding another store that sells single mailing stamps.
Advantages Of Buying Stamps From Safeway
The number of locations:
Safeway is one of the country’s largest retail/grocery store chains with over 1300 locations scattered throughout the United States. They even have a number of international stores which can be found in Canada, Mexico, England, Australia, and Germany. This high number of stores means there is often one close to where you live or work.
The success of Safeway and its expansion throughout the United States and internationally is a testament to the businesses management as well as their 250’000+ employees. Safeway also runs a number of subsidiary companies you may have heard of including Carrs-Safeway, Pak n’ Save, Pavilions, Randall’s, Tom Thumb, and Von’s which are all likely to offer postage stamps if you are looking for them.
Business hours:
The USPS might have everything you need to mail a letter or package but their business hours are often difficult to work with for people with full time jobs and commitments. Safeway stores are open far more hours of the day compared to USPS stores meaning you can pick up postage stamps outside regular business hours.
Open on Sundays:
Unlike the USPS if you need postage stamps on a Sunday then Safeway can help you out. With many of us only getting free time on the weekends the ability to buy postage stamps on a Sunday is a real bonus.
Convenience:
We all need to make trips to the grocery store regularly so picking up some postage stamps doesn’t need to be a separate trip. If you’re not in a big rush you can just add stamps to your shopping list and pick some up while you’re there.
Parking:
Safeway stores usually have large parking lots meaning you don’t need to struggle finding a park. This statement is not true with some USPS stores which are often located in the busy parts of town.
Cost Of Stamps From Safeway
Safeway is an authorized seller for USPS so the stamps are priced at the same rate as you’d find from the post office. This means the current price for a book of stamps from Safeway is $11. At $11 for 22 stamps this is 55c each for a Forever stamp.
Buying Stamps From Safeway Online
At the current time you can only buy postage stamps from Safeway in store. They are not available for online shopping. If you are looking to buy postage stamps online you can do so from other online stores like Amazon.
Nearest Safeway Location To You
With locations all across the country there’s a good chance you have a store nearby. If you’re travelling or not sure where the closest Safeway is to you they have a handy store locater you can use here. If you’re on mobile then Google Maps or similar will show you the closest store to your current location.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you buy stamps at Safeway?
Books of stamps are only available in store from Safeway so if you’re looking to purchase some then online shopping is not an option. Where the stamps are stored varies from location to location with many stores keeping stamps behind the counter. The best way to buy stamps from Safeway is to ask at customer service so they get them from behind the counter.
How much does a book of stamps cost at Safeway?
A book of stamps costs $11 from Safeway and contains 20 USPS Forever stamps. This works out at 55c per stamp the same price as what you pay at a USPS store (but you can buy stamps individually there).
Do grocery stores sell stamps?
Yes a number of grocery stores sell stamps. The large chains like Safeway and Kroger sell stamps in differing quantities as well as envelopes, pens and packaging. For an in depth look at specific stores see our grocery store page.
What else can you buy at safeway?
While in Safeway you will also be able to by envelopes, pens, paper etc. so if you need to send a letter and don’t have any supplies they will likely be able to sort you out with everything you need. Many of their large stores also feature USPS mailing services allowing you to attach a postage stamp and send the letter right away.
Since the year 2000 Safeway has also began delivering groceries. This means you can have your groceries delivered to your door and with them a sheet of stamps.
How Long Has Safeway Sold Stamps?
In researching postage stamps from Safeway we stumbled across a New York Times article from 1988 which mentioned a promotion that Safeway was running. A bold coupon strategy had the stores selling $4.40 worth of stamps for $4 (cheaper than you could buy them from the Post Office). As far as we can tell this was the first know example of a large scale store selling stamps at below value. The fact that it made the NY Times shows how rare this would have been. As to when they first started selling stamps we could not find out, it could have been just about any time since the business began in 1915 and sadly these things are often not recorded.
