stamps Archives - Social Correspondence

Underwater Post Offices Throughout the World

Post offices around the world can be charming, unique, or simply functional, but few places feature underwater post offices. Swimming and letter writing are some of my favorite pastimes, but not necessarily together! Only a few underwater post offices have survived, but they have their place in history. Twenty years ago, the small town of Risør, located in the south of Norway, constructed an underwater post office as a novelty for tourists. Established by the local scuba diving club, it was billed as the only dry underwater post office in the world. Constructed in the form…

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October 16, 2023

Mail / Pandemic / Post Office / Postal Service / U.S. Postal Service

Slower delivery, higher costs projected for holiday mail

Holiday mail in 2021 will have slower delivery, higher costs, especially if you are shipping gifts or letters and cards across the country. Global supply chain issues, elimination of most air mail delivery, and labor shortages due to the pandemic all add up to slower processing and delivery times. Industry experts project that states west of the Rockies and mainland extremities states, including Texas and Florida, will be the hardest hit. But according to the USPS, new high speed package sorting equipment and facilities will improve service reliability and efficiency (albeit at higher cost and slower…

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November 8, 2021

Mail / Politics / Postal Service / Stamps / Technology / U.S. Postal Service

The Ten-Year Plan

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the USPS revealed a new ten-year plan on March 21, 2021 aimed at reinvigorating the postal service. Parts of the plan are ready to be implemented, including increasing the cost of stamps, slowing down first-class mail delivery in favor of more lucrative package delivery, closing selected facilities, and cutting back post office hours and staffing. Such changes are subject to approval by the Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent Federal agency. First-class stamps are currently 55 cents First-class mail volume has decreased by 28% over the past 10 years, one of the…

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June 3, 2021

Mail / Politics / Post cards / Postal Service / Stamps / Theater / U.S. Postal Service

Who Selects the Stamps

Who selects the stamps? Each year, the United States Postal Service issues approximately 35 new stamps, covering a wide range of images and fields of interest. In short, it is not hard to find something to like. New stamps are selected by the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) of the USPS, whose members are appointed by the Postmaster General. Playwright August Wilson is featured on a new Forever Stamp The CSAC was established in 1957. Currently, the committee has 13 members, representing “…collective expertise in history, science, technology, art, education, sports, and other areas of public…

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April 22, 2021

newspapers / Post Office / Postal Service / Stamps / U.S. Postal Service

Ponzi Scheme and Stamps

A certain type of fraud that dates back centuries, known as a Ponzi scheme, derived its name from a deception involving stamps in the early 20th century. According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a Ponzi scheme is “an investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks.” Investors are led to believe that their investment is yielding unrealistically high returns. Despite the 20th century adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” billions of dollars have…

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February 23, 2021

Americans rely on mail delivery for letters, packages, checks, medications and more

Letter writing / Mail / Mailboxes / News / Politics / Post Office / Postal Inspector / Postal Service / U.S. Postal Service / Voting

New Threats to the U.S. Postal Service

Americans rely on timely mail delivery for letters, packages, checks, medications and more New threats to the U.S. Postal Service now challenge this essential service. Ongoing budget troubles have been further exacerbated by the pandemic and a precipitous drop in the use of first class mail. Add to that a new Postmaster General, a political appointee, who is making sweeping changes that reduce services, has endangered the ability of the Postal Service to manage mail-in voting Louis DeJoy, a businessman and major fundraiser for President Trump, took over the duties of Postmaster General on June 15,…

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August 17, 2020

Birds in Winter. Image courtesy of USPS

Letter writing / Mail / Memorabilia / Post Office / Postal Service / Stamps / U.S. Postal Service / War letters

More About Stamps

Stamps have been in the news recently. The surfacing of a rare inverted Jenny stamp, a dispute over the use of an image of the Statue of Liberty, and new releases of novel, innovative and popular stamp motifs have all received media attention in recent months. New stamps, now on sale at post offices or online through USPS.com, include four new holiday stamps as well as re-releases of past popular images; a World War I commemorative stamp; Hot Wheels; Birds in Winter; Dragons; the much anticipated John Lennon stamp; and others. John Lennon The John…

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October 17, 2018

John Lennon stamp will be releases on Sept. 7

Letter writing / Mail / Mailboxes / Politics / Post cards / Post Office / Post Office Boxes / Postal Service / Stamps / U.S. Postal Service

What’s New at the Post Office

Services, facilities and politics are evolving at the USPS. So, what’s new at the post office? One service I tried out this year and have found very helpful is Informed Delivery. Launched in the spring of 2017, Informed Delivery provides the postal customer with a daily email, which includes photocopies of the letter sized pieces to be delivered in that day’s mail, as well as notification of anticipated packages. Given the massive quantities of junk mail that the average customer receives, this service is valuable in anticipating important letters and documents. If you haven’t yet signed…

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July 2, 2018

Royal Mail Delivers Your Letters – and Packages, Too!

Letterbox pillar, St. Ives

books / Letter writing / Mail / Mailboxes / newspapers / Postal Service / Stamps

Royal Mail Delivers Your Letters – and Packages, Too!

My recent visit to the United Kingdom would not have been complete without checking out the Royal Mail. Picturesque letterboxes led me to believe that a sweet, old-fashioned post office would be just around the corner, but that turned out not to be the case. The post office in St. Ives (Cambridgeshire) is co-located in the back of WHSmith, which is, in this location, a news and sundry store. One can purchase any one of three daily newspapers, a bottle of water, an umbrella, a Cadbury’s (now owned by Hershey) chocolate bar and various other snacks…

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August 27, 2017

Protect Pollinators stamps

Letter writing / Mail / Postal Service / Stamps / U.S. Postal Service

Banner Year for Stamps

If you like to put something pretty, creative or unique on your envelopes, this has been a banner year for stamps. From the transformative Total Solar Eclipse stamp to the newly released Protect Pollinators or Sharks Forever stamps, the U.S. Postal Service has a Forever stamp for you. My personal preferences for stamps include nature, animals, art, and literature. Fortunately, many of stamps issued this year, or yet to be issued in 2017, fit in at least one of these categories, and often more than one. Following four years of drought in California, our yard was…

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August 9, 2017