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Two stamps on a letter?

I had to mail something to Vital Statistics this week and when I called to get an address they told me to put two stamps on the envelope. I don't mail alot of letters anymore so I'm not quite sure why I would need 2 stamps on a normal sized envelope. I thought maybe it was for the cost of returning it, but why wouldn't they just take that out of the 15$ processing charge?

Maybe its long distance and the post office wants more for that.

With the recipients name "Vital Statistics" I'm thinking you'll be mailing a number of pages to them so the extra stamp is to cover the extra weight of the envelope. A 35 cent stamp will cover about 5 letter-sized pages.

according to www.usps.gov

Quote:

First-Class Mail
First-Class Mail is used for personal and business correspondence. Any mailable item may be sent as First-Class Mail. It includes postcards, letters, large envelopes, and small packages. The maximum weight is 13 ounces. Pieces over 13 ounces can be sent as Priority Mail.

The minimum size for First-Class Mail is 5 inches long, 3-1/2 inches high, and 0.007 inch thick. Pieces weighing 1 ounce or less may be subject to the nonmachinable surcharge.
First-Class Mail Rates

First ounce
$0.37

Each additional ounce
$0.23

First-Class Mail Rates

Weight not over (ounces) Rate
11 $0.37
2 0.60
3 0.83
4 1.06
5 1.29
6 1.52
7 1.75
8 1.98
9 2.21
10 2.44
11 2.67
12 2.90
13 3.13

Over 13 ounces (see Priority Mail).

Nonmachinable Surcharge: An additional $0.12 is required for items weighing 1 ounce or less with any of the following criteria:

a. Square letters.
b. The height exceeds 6-1/8 inches, or length exceeds 11-1/2 inches, or thickness exceeds 1/4 inch.
c. The length divided by height is less than 1.3 or more than 2.5 (length is the dimension parallel to the address).
d. It has clasps, strings, buttons, or similar closure devices.
e. It is too rigid or contains items such as pens that cause the thickness of the mailpiece to be uneven.
f. It has an address parallel to the shorter dimension of the mailpiece.

There were only 2 pieces of paper in the envelope. It weighed no more than anything else I've ever mailed. Maybe she was expecting it to weigh more than it did and just assumed it'd take two stamps. I guess I should consider it a donation to the US postal Service :/