USPS To Honor Living People On Stamps

First, let me state that this is my personal opinion as APS President, and reflects neither a poll of the APS membership nor the opinions of the APS Board.

I fully support the decision made by the Postal Service. I believe it will help attract new collectors to the hobby; especially those whose focus is on cultural icons, and modern day events that are tied to living people. This includes individuals of all ages, but is probably heavily weighted towards youth. This new decision should help the USPS to sell more stamps that will be retained by collectors, which would be a win/win for both the Postal Service and the collectors. It is not for us to judge either what others collect or how they collect, but rather that they collect.

Important philatelic countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, all English speaking, as well as several others, are issuing stamps commemorating the living. However, it is really not important whether the United States is leading or following this practice, but rather that we ourselves are comfortable with the idea. Great Britain, the country that introduced the postage stamp to the world in 1840 is certainly at peace with their tradition, as it was decades before a non-living person was to appear on a British stamp. But traditions come and go in life. I have a personal love of line engraved stamps, but they are not the nature of today's issues. I accept that. As Bob Dylan said, The Times They Are A-Changin' and we'd better learn to adapt or we will sink like stones. To me, the only caveat is to be diligent in the selection process. If left solely to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC), I feel very confident. Keeping political influence away is essential to the program's integrity. Perhaps CSAC will consider a super-majority vote to approve these "living" subjects.

It is a refreshing step for our Postal Service. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and Executive Director of Stamp Services Stephen Kearney are to be applauded for thinking out of the box to bring a different concept to United States Stamps. Bravo and thank you.

I was amazed and disheartened when I read about the new policy.

My first thought was that the selection for stamp subjects will become a political battleground with every politician trying to curry favor with a particular part of the electorate by pressuring the USPS to issue a stamp which would appeal to that group. Will we see a Barack Obama stamp issued just in time for the 2012 elections? It seems as though the USPS just cut the legs off the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee. I'm guessing that future appointments to that group will generate a lot more attention from politicians than it has in the past.

I'm also saddened by this change since I think it will dilute the historical and educational aspect of the U.S. stamp program. Each year there have been stamps issued honoring people and events I had never heard of. This would cause me to read about the particular subject and actually learn something. I already know more than I need to about Lady Gaga.

I guess in its quest to generate more revenue, the USPS has taken a typical government approach — When all else fails, just lower your standards.

The above opinions are mine alone and to not represent those of the USSS, APS, or any other society I belong to.

"It would be great to pay tribute to outstanding Americans for their achievements while they are still alive to enjoy the honor."

"I stand by my feelings expressed then," she told The Virtual Stamp Club after the 2011 announcement.

In a way it is a gutsy call as we can only imagine the huge pressures that will be brought to bear on the Postmaster General and his Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee to honor specific individuals who can call upon political friends to back them, and mount public campaigns using their financial resources and professional publicity machines. Can the USPS stand up to calls from the White House and important Members of Congress who deal with postal legislation? I'm not at all sure it can.

Thus, I am hopeful that the USPS will exercise restraint by choosing a very limited number of persons per year, and that they be persons of iconic accomplishment/stature, and unquestioned integrity. Perhaps then we will not appear to be in the same category as countries in the Caribbean, Africa, South America and certain desert sheikdoms that have made their stamp issuance programs cash cows by issuing multi-stamp sets and sheetlets honoring American rock stars, movie idols, sports heroes and space adventurers.

The positive is that the decision will help the stamp program resonate with the American public. Will this outweigh the possible negatives? We will see. The decision is clearly not reversible and I am sure the public will love it. I just hope it can be implemented in a way that does not end up holding the US stamp program up to ridicule, and in a way that does not push American history and important historical figures out of the program.

For as progressive and radical as my thinking may have been in the late 90s, and for the criticism I endured during my tenure overseeing the stamp program trying to contemporize the hobby, compromising on our guiding principles and core values were never an option. I can still hear [actor, stamp collector and CSAC member] Karl Malden saying "let history decide who is to be honored on stamps, not their short-term fame and fortune and especially not the here and now!" These were his words when a movement was set afoot to honor living people on stamps as we planned the Celebrate the Century stamp series [issued in 1998 and 1999].

I think it's an exciting and bold step by the Postal Service to keep the stamp program relevant. It will be interesting and fun to see how the program changes over the next few years.

Other posts around the world seem to be making it work. There's no reason why the USPS can't do as well or better.

Imagine the emotional impact that the stamp honoring Bob Hope could have had if it was issued while Hope was still alive and able to attend the first day ceremony. Imagine the potential first day of issue sales for a stamp honoring an American President -- issued on the day of his/her inauguration.

I believe the announcement and the eventual release of the first U.S. postage stamp honoring a living person will rank among the other important firsts of American philately including the first bi-color stamps (Pictorials-1869) and the first commemorative stamps (Columbian Exposition Issue-1893). More importantly, the release of U.S. postage stamps honoring living people has the potential to attract a huge new audience to the use and collecting of American postage stamps. It will be my honor to be among the first to welcome this population of new collectors into the philatelic world. An exciting new era of U.S. postage stamp design and subject matter is upon us — Three Cheers For The USPS!