5409 (55¢) Woodstock Music Festival, 50th Anniv.
Tyrannosaurus Rex:
5410 (55¢) Juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex, Egg and Insect
5411 (55¢) Adult Tyrannosaurus Rex
5412 (55¢) Young Adult Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Juvenile Triceratops
5413 (55¢) Juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex Chasing Mammal
a. Block of 4 #5410-5413
[press release]
The Holidays are Coming! Do You Know the Shipping Deadlines?
WASHINGTON — In the blink of an eye summer is over and now it’s fall. Before you know it, it will be time for the holidays again. Fortunately, the U.S. Postal Service has your back with all the mailing deadlines you need to know for the expected delivery of cards and gifts to your loved ones, whether they’re overseas or across the country.
2019 Holiday Shipping Deadlines
The Postal Service recommends the following mailing and shipping deadlines for expected delivery by Dec. 25 to Air/Army Post Office/Fleet Post Office/Diplomatic Post Office and domestic addresses*:
Alaska
Hawaii
*Not a guarantee, unless otherwise noted. Dates are for estimated delivery before December 25. Actual delivery date may vary depending on origin, destination, Post Office™ acceptance date and time and other conditions. Some restrictions apply. For Priority Mail Express® shipments mailed December 21 through December 25, the money-back guarantee applies only if the shipment was not delivered, or delivery was not attempted, within two (2) business days.
Busiest Mailing and Delivery Days
Thanks to more people shopping earlier and shopping online, the Postal Service’s “busiest day” notion is now a thing of the past. Instead, the Postal Service now has a busiest time, and it starts two weeks before Christmas. Beginning the week of Dec. 9, customer traffic is expected to increase, with the week of Dec. 16 – 22 predicted to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week.
Skip the Trip and Ship Online
Consumers don’t even have to leave home to ship their packages, simply visit usps.com. The Postal Service anticipates Dec. 16 will be the Postal Service’s busiest day online with more than 8.5 million consumers predicted to visit usps.com for help shipping that special holiday gift. And usps.com is always open.
It’s estimated nearly 400,000 consumers will use the Click-N-Ship® feature and other online services on Dec. 16 to order free Priority Mail boxes, print shipping labels, purchase postage and even request free next-day Package Pickup.
New this year
There have been some changes made to how you can ship your packages this year. For safety reasons, as of Oct. 1, you can no longer drop off stamped packages – which means using individual stamps as postage – that are more than one-half inch thick and/or weighing more than 10 ounces into blue collection boxes, building mail chutes, or Post Office mail slots. Instead you must go to a retail counter or use the self-service kiosk (SSK) to purchase a postage label. If you opt to use the SSK, to buy a postage label, you can drop off your package in the package slot, not the mail slot, at a Post Office. If a restricted package is found in a collection box, mail chute or lobby mail slot it will be returned to sender. Mail that is returned to sender will have a Customer Return Label attached explaining the restrictions and reason for return. So don’t take any chances this year, make sure to follow the new package mailing guidelines.
Click-N-Ship customers are unaffected by this change.
[press release]
U.S. Postal Service Announces New Prices for 2020
No change in price of Forever stamp
WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) today of price changes to take effect Jan. 26, 2020.
The proposed prices, approved by the Governors of the Postal Service, would raise Mailing Services product prices approximately 1.9 percent. Shipping Services price increases vary by product. For example, Priority Mail Express would increase 3.5 percent and Priority Mail would increase 4.1 percent, on average. Although Mailing Services price increases are based on the Consumer Price Index, Shipping Services prices are primarily adjusted according to market conditions. The Governors believe these new rates will keep the Postal Service competitive while providing the agency with needed revenue.
If favorably reviewed by the PRC, the new prices will include no increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, which would remain at 55 cents. The single-piece letter additional ounce price would remain at 15 cents. Also unchanged would be the prices of postcard stamps at 35 cents, and 1-ounce flats at $1.
The proposed Mailing Services price changes include:
| Product | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Letters (1 oz.) | 55 cents | 55 cents [no change] |
| Letters additional ounces | 15 cents | 15 cents [no change] |
| Letters (metered 1 oz.) | 50 cents | 50 cents [no change] |
| Flats (1 oz.) | $1 | $1 [no change] |
| Outbound International Letters (1 oz.) | $1.15 | $1.20 |
| Domestic Postcards | 35 cents | 35 cents [no change] |
The proposed domestic Priority Mail Flat Rate Retail price changes are:
| Product | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Small Flat-Rate Box | $7.90 | $8.30 |
| Medium Flat-Rate Box | $14.35 | $15.05 |
| Large Flat-Rate Box | $19.95 | $21.10 |
| APO/FPO Large Flat-Rate Box | $18.45 | $19.60 |
| Regular Flat-Rate Envelope | $7.35 | $7.75 |
| Legal Flat-Rate Envelope | $7.65 | $8.05 |
| Padded Flat-Rate Envelope | $8 | $8.40 |
The Postal Service has some of the lowest letter mail postage rates in the industrialized world and also continues to offer a great value in shipping. Unlike some other shippers, the 
Postal Service does not add surcharges for fuel, residential delivery, or regular Saturday or holiday season delivery.
The PRC will review the prices before they are scheduled to take effect Jan. 26, 2020. The complete Postal Service price filings with prices for all products can be found on the PRC site under the Daily Listings section at prc.gov/dockets/daily. For the Mailing Services filing see Docket No. R2020-1. For the Shipping Services filing see Docket No. CP2020-5. The price change tables are also available on the Postal Service’s Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
[press release]
ROYAL MAIL SPECIAL STAMPS MARK 20 YEARS OF THE GRUFFALO
The Gruffalo has won numerous awards; it was the UK’s best-selling picture book of 2000, won the Blue Peter Best Book To Read Aloud award and was voted Best Bedtime Story in 
a BBC poll of 2009. It has been adapted into theatre productions with runs in the West End, Broadway and the Sydney Opera House. It has also been adapted into an Oscar nominated, animated film.
Philip Parker, Royal Mail, said: “We celebrate 20 years of The Gruffalo with these charming stamps, and are delighted that Axel has taken us back to the deep, dark wood with his new illustrations of the much-loved characters.”
A full set of all 10 stamps, available in a Presentation Pack (which includes a Gruffalo snakes and ladders game), retails at £12.20.
In the book, Mouse encounters several predators in the wood, and declines their invitations to dinner, telling each that he is meeting his (imaginary) friend, the fearsome Gruffalo. Hearing this, each predator flees in terror. Then, however, Mouse is shocked to encounter the real monster from his imagination.
Axel Scheffler illustrated Royal Mail’s 2012 Christmas stamps. 
The “executive summary:” If your mailing weighs more than 10 ounces or is more than half an inch thick, and has stamps on it, you’ll have to either hand it to a clerk at a post office, or put it in the package bin at a self-service kiosk.
We are not aware of any recent incident prompting this change. The initial restriction in 1996 was caused by the Unabomber series of mail-bombs.
The first section of this press release is mostly history. The limit had been 13 ounces.
[press release]
Package Security Enhancements Begin This Month
WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service is increasing the safety and security of its collection box procedures through a modification of the long-standing Aviation Mail Security Rule, which was established in August 1996 and called for all packages weighing 16 ounces to be presented in person to a postal clerk or a letter carrier. The action was taken to enhance security measures and to protect the public, postal employees and postal contractors who transport the U.S. Mail.
In 2007, the weight allowance was decreased to 13-ounces or more for all anonymous mail. Since then, packages and other mail pieces weighing 13 ounces or more, bearing only stamps as postage must only be presented to a postal employee at a retail counter.
This month’s update to the rule will enhance the existing safety program by prohibiting packages with stamps as postage that are more than one-half inch thick and/or weigh more than 10 ounces from anonymously being entered into the mail stream through collection boxes or Post Office mail slots. Packages and all other mail pieces of this type will now need to be taken to a retail counter. This change is effective Oct. 1, 2019.
How to mail a package
Consumers who opt to use postage stamps to mail packages, or other items, weighing more than 10 ounces and/or more than one-half inch thick must conduct their transactions at a Post Office retail counter. Consumers can also take advantage of Postal Service self-service kiosks to purchase postage labels and drop those packages into the package slots, not mail slots, at a Post Office. If a restricted package or mail piece is found in a collection box, mail chute or lobby mail slot after Oct. 1 it will be returned to the sender with a Customer Return Label attached explaining the restrictions and reason for return.
Click-N-Ship customers will be unaffected by this change. [Of course not: Click-N-Ship provides postage labels and its mailings don’t use stamps. —VSC.]
Consumers can expect to see label changes on collection boxes and Post Office mail slots with the updated information. The Postal Service apologizes for any inconvenience to its customers.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
[press release]
Australia Post remembers rare class of meteorite
Australia Post is releasing a commemorative stamp to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of one of the world’s most scientifically acclaimed meteorites, the Murchison meteorite.
Arriving just two months after the first Moon landing, the Murchison meteorite was declared “as exciting as moon dust”. The meteorite shower fell around the small town of Murchison, some 160 kilometres north of Melbourne in Victoria, on Sunday, 28 September 1969.
Commenting on the stamp release, Australia Post Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt said the stamp was one for science fans, history buffs, and collectors alike.
“The Murchison meteorite retained many chemical properties from the time of its formation some 4.56 billion years ago and may even be a fragment of a comet. It has been extensively studied due to its rarity and the large amount of material recovered.”
The commemorative stamp, designed by Tim Hancock of the Backpack Creative studio, features a graphic representation of the meteor falling to Earth in the vicinity of the town of Murchison.
The hexagons suggest the structure of the amino acids that were found in the meteorite.
Other products associated with this issue include sheetlet of 10 x $1 stamps, first day cover and maxicard.
The Murchison Meteorite commemorative stamp issue is available now at participating Post Offices, via mail order on 1800 331 794 and online at auspost.com.au/stamps, while stocks last.
[press release]
Our beautiful cities once again catch the eye
Australia Post is celebrating two of our beautiful cities, releasing two International Post stamps featuring Sydney and Perth. The stamp issue is the second in a series featuring Australian cities, with the first issue in 2018 featuring Adelaide, Brisbane, and Melbourne.
Based on a number of indices, including political and economic stability, environmental integrity and access to public transport and recreation, our major cities are regularly named among the world’s most liveable.
Speaking on the stamp release, Australia Post Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt said Australians are justifiably proud of our cities.
“Not only are they great places in which to live, they are situated on beautiful scenic waterways, and feature so much that makes them loved by so many,” he said.
Sydney was established in 1788 on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. With more than five million residents, today Sydney is the most populous of our state capitals. The stamp shows the famous Sydney Opera House, situated on Bennelong Point on the spectacular Sydney Harbour.
The largest state by area, Western Australia occupies approximately a third of the continent. Its capital city Perth, located on the beautiful Swan River and bounded by the Indian Ocean, was established in 1829 on the lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people. With around 2.3 million people, Perth is the fourth largest city in Australia. The stamp shows Elizabeth Quay, named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II during her Diamond Jubilee.
The stamps, designed by Jason Watts of the Australia Post Design Studio, feature recent photographs of the two cities.
Other products associated with this issue include a stamp presentation pack, first day cover, maxicards, postcards and a self-adhesive sheetlet of five $3.20 (Sydney) stamps.
The Beautiful Cities commemorative stamp issue is available now at participating Post Offices, via mail order on 1800 331 794 and online at auspost.com.au/stamps, while stocks last.
[press release – translated by Google]
Tribute to the autumn forest
The Hague, September 13, 2019. Autumn is the season to go into the forest. The leaves change color, the trees look different every day. With the stamp sheetlet “Experience nature – trees and leaves”, which was released today, PostNL brings an ode to the forest in the autumn.
Totally Dutch
On the latest stamp sheet, the depicted trees and leaves are closely linked, as if they were close to each other. All the trees shown can indeed be found in Dutch nature. All used photos are also made in the Netherlands
The first experience
For graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda, who designed the stamps, the forest plays an important role in our experience of nature. “For children, a forest is often the first experience with nature. There’s a lot going on. You see, smell and hear everything. At the same time you realize that everything happens that you do not immediately see, smell or hear. That makes it even more exciting. ”
Decay process
Experience the nature – trees and leaves at the center of the design of the sensory and associative nature experience. When selecting the photographic material, Janse searched for autumn colors that are as close as possible to each other. “I stayed away from the romantic, multi-colored autumn hues, but chose greenish and orange-colored brown. They are the first steps in the rotting process that nature simply undergoes in the autumn. ”
Biodiversity
With the new stamps, PostNL calls attention to the diversity of nature in our country. “It is much larger than we sometimes think at first sight,” says Stephan van den Eijnden, MailNL’s commercial director, Mail. “Trees play a major role in this. Especially in an urbanized country like the Netherlands. That is why it is so important to safeguard the biodiversity of our forests.”
Image bank for nature photography
After the mammals (2 January), stinsenplants (25 February) and butterflies (11 June), this fourth stamp sheet about trees and leaves is the last of this year from the series Experience nature. All photos on the stamps are from Buiten-Beeld, the Dutch image bank for nature photography. A single stamp sheet in the single sale costs nature experience € 8.70. The price for the entire series is € 34.80, including storage folder.
Availability
The stamp sheet Experience nature – trees and leaves has 10 different stamps with the value indication Netherlands 1, intended for mail up to and including 20 grams with a destination within the Netherlands. The stamps are available now at all points of sale of PostNL, the post office in the Bruna stores and via www.postnl.nl/bij exception- postzegels. The stamps can also be ordered by telephone from Collect Club customer service on telephone number 088 – 868 99 00. The period of validity is indefinite.
[press release – translated by Google]
Special stamps with informal portraits of the royal family
The Hague, 16 September 2019. The latest stamps from PostNL contain 5 penetrating portraits of King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and the princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane. The photos were taken by photographer Erwin Olaf, who is celebrating his 40th anniversary this year.
Royal Christmas card
In the background of the stamp sheet is a group photo of the king, queen and their 3 daughters. This photo, also by Olaf, decorated the royal Christmas card of 2018. The issue of the new stamps with the 5 royal portraits is an initiative of PostNL.
Self-Guided
In 2019 there were various anniversary exhibitions with the work of Olaf, including in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and the Fotomuseum Den Haag. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima also visited these exhibitions, where they were shown around in person by Olaf. Olaf: “The overview exhibitions showed how I changed from an angry young man to a visual artist who looks at the world more thoughtfully and with contemplation. This also applies to the almost abstract and absurd discovery of the portrait as a medium, with techniques such as cropping and broaching. How close can you come to the essence of man? I applied those lessons to these portraits of the royal family. ”
High-profile artists
PostNL very much wanted to put the informal photos of the royal family on stamps, explains Stephan van den Eijnden, commercial director Mail of PostNL. “On the 5 stamps released earlier this year with Olaf’s most important work, there was no room for it. Now these accessible and penetrating photos get all the attention they deserve. Today’s issue is also in line with our tradition of regularly commissioning high-profile artists for stamp designs. For example, the permanent stamps with King Willem-Alexander were designed by Studio Job, based on a portrait by photographer Rineke Dijkstra. ”
Erwin Olaf
Erwin Olaf (Hilversum, 1959) attended the School for Journalism in Utrecht and after graduating focused successively on reportage photography and staged photography. In 2013, Olaf designed the statue for the new euro coin with King Willem-Alexander. The photographer has won many prizes, including a Lucie Award (for Achievement in Advertising) and in 2011 the Johannes Vermeer Prize, the Dutch state prize for the arts.
Availability
The stamp sheet The Royal Family has 5 different stamps with the value indication Netherlands 1, intended for mail up to and including 20 grams with a destination within the Netherlands. The stamps can be ordered now via the website and at Collect Club customer service on telephone number 088 – 868 99 00. The validity period is indefinite.
A New Presidential Memorial Stamp Is Waiting in The Wings
By John M. Hotchner
[It’s been about a year since George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, died, and several months since the U.S. issued a stamp for him.]
I had the good fortune to meet him—twice—and I’m a fan. So I looked forward to the commemorative memorial stamp for him that was issued on his next birthday, June 12, 2019.
This is a tradition that has its roots in the 19th Century, with the issuance of the first presidential mourning stamp of the United States in April, 1866, a 15¢ stamp in black (Scott #77, plus later grilled issues) honoring Abraham Lincoln; who had been assassinated a year earlier. The earliest known use, per Scott, is April 21, 1866.
A mourning stamp was a novelty in 1866, though earlier presidents had been included in the stamp program after their passing. But Lincoln s e t a n e w standard: a stamp in black, issued within a year of death, or shortly after. A use of his stamp, on a mourning cover, is shown in Figure 1.
We would not see such an issuance again until the passing of Pres. Warren Harding from a heart attack on August 2, 1923. A mourning stamp in his honor (Figure 2)—a flat plate-printed, perf. 11 version (Scott #610)—was released just a month later, on Sept. 1, 1923. It was followed by three more versions (perf. 10 flat plate, imperf., and perf. 11 rotary press; Scott #s 611-613) within a couple of months.
After this there was a hit-or-miss period. Woodrow Wilson, who passed away in 1924, after he left office, 
was given a 17¢ memorial stamp in black (Scott 623) almost two years after he died, seen in a first day cover, Figure 3. William Howard Taft whose presidency ended in 1913, left us on March 8, 1930, and was included in the Fourth Bureau issue with a brown 4¢ sheet stamp and a coil just three months later (Fig. 4)
But Calvin Coolidge, who passed in 1933 was not placed on a stamp until the presidential issue of 1938, where he was the honoree on the $5 (Scott #834).
The next president to die was Franklin D. Roosevelt, on April 12, 1945; at the start of his fourth term. Four stamps were issued in his honor—none of them black—within a year of his death. The first was released on June 27, 1945; a 3¢ purple (which can be considered as a mourning color). It was followed by a 1¢ blue green, a 2¢ carmine rose, and a 5¢ bright blue (Scott #930-933). They broke the mold by including illustrations of more than just the picture of the president. See Figure 5 below.
The next president to die was John F. Kennedy, the victim of an assassin, on November 22, 1963. And here is where the modern system of memorial stamps was inaugurated. On May 29, 1964, a 5¢ blue-grey commemorative was issued showing JFK and his eternal flame (Scott #1246, Figure 6). His birth date was May 29, 1917.
Figure 6 shows JFK on a Sc. 1246 FDC along with stamps for other assassinated Presidents: McKinley, Garfield, and Lincoln (Sc. 559, 558, 1036)
Presidential deaths after Kennedy, and the date of their memorial stamp (on or near their birthday), are shown here:
| Name Herbert Hoover Dwight D. Eisenhower Harry S. Truman Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Ronald Reagan Gerald Ford George H.W. Bush |
Date of Death Oct. 20, 1964 March 28, 1969 Dec. 26, 1972 Jan. 22, 1973 April 22, 1994 June 5, 2004 Dec. 26, 2006 Nov. 30, 2018 |
Date of Issue Aug. 10, 1965 Oct. 14, 1969 May 8, 1973 Aug. 27, 1973 April 26, 1995 Feb. 9, 2005 Aug. 31, 2007 June 12, 2019 |
We are long past the times when the U.S. Postal Service was simply reactive to a presidential passing. Wouldn’t be prudent. They now have “in the bank” an approved image of each president who has left office, ready for use on the memorial stamp. It has been selected by the president himself, and discussed with the immediate family as well.
Also gone are the grim black stamps that celebrate death, in favor of brighter colorful portraits. This is not to say that all the presidential memorial stamps are beautiful—or popular. Richard Nixon’s stamp was not expected to do well, so the USPS ordered only 80 million printed. Compare that to the 511,750,000 stamps ordered for JFK, and 170 million for Ronald Reagan.
Should you wish to comment on this editorial, or have questions or ideas you would like to have explored in a future column, please write to John Hotchner, VSC Contributor, P.O. Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125, or email, putting “VSC” in the subject line.
Or comment right here.
