[HPforGrownups] Another question for somebody in England (cost of stamps)

[Kathryn Cawte]

No: HPFGUIDX 87581

Abbet


> How much is a stamp, is it the same size as a US stamp?  Just
> wondering how much it would cost to cover an envelope with stamps.
> Seems to me that would cost quite a bit of money for a poor Wizard
> family, so maybe they made their own stamps.  If they can make
> stamps, couldn't they make muggle money, have somebody launder the
> money, then take the real money to Gringotts and exchange it for
> wizard money?
>
K
Despite being English I am hopelessly out of touch and have no idea how much
a first class or second class stamp costs. But on the manufacturing money
issue - if anyone can manufacture money then it has no value. I saw someone
suggest that you can't transfigure things into pure elements and I suspect
that *maybe* that's why there is no paper money in the wizarding world only
coins. Muggle money which draws it's value from the fact that it is linked
to the wealth of the state - i.e. *technically* a fiver is a promissory note
which guarantees that should you wish to cash it in the issuing bank will
give you the equivalent value in gold. The idea being that gold is heavy,
bulky and no fun to carry around so these notes were created instead and
since the bank's guarantee is good then a five pound note can be exchanged
for five pounds in goods or services. However, if more paper money is issued
than the bank/government can actually cover, then the confidence in the
guarantee falls and the five pound note can only be exchanged for four
pounds of goods or services, or three pounds etc etc, eventually leading to
hyperinflation (think Germany after WWI) and the need to pay for things in
either gold itself or wheelbarrows full of money. Gringotts goblins,
presumably understanding economics far better than I, cannot risk people
simply mass producing these notes so they use coins. These coins cannot
change in value because they are made of the actual metal and their value
comes not from some belief that a bank will honour them but the actual
intrinsic value of the coins. Presumably the coins are made of gold, silver
and ... uh .... copper? While obviously you could make muggle money - the
same theory of collapsing the economy would apply, thus meaning your muggle
money could be exchanged for less and less wizarding money until it was
simply not accepted at all. Plus I imagine that the Ministry would be a
*teeny* bit upset if wizards managed to risk revealing their world to
muggles by destroying the muggle economy - if they ever reveal themselves
this would *not* be an ideal way to do it! ;)

Manufacturing stamps however may be illegal and likely to upset the Royal
Mail but won't actually cause the economy of the country to collapse in a
shivering wreck and as such it is safe to rely on the inherent honesty of
people combined with some kind of big stick should they feel tempted to
break the law.

K