For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations 
March 6-7, 1999:


Much ado about nothing.


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries


This past Tuesday, the U-S issued a stamp honoring 
Alfred Lunt and Lynn  Fontanne, the famed acting couple who 
made sure to take great theater like Shakespeare on the road 
outside New York City.


Unfortunately, the stamp honoring them won't be available 
at post offices outside New York City. 


The Postal Service no longer distributes every stamp to 
every post office. Some issues, it figures, have only limited 
interest, and therefore limited sales.


Of course, if there's such limited interest in a subject, why 
bother issuing a stamp? Unless, of course, the stamp is 
supposed to EDUCATE the public on the subject's importance....in 
which case, wouldn't it do that better if it were available 
everywhere?


Many collectors only know about new issues because they see 
them on their mail, or because they ask at their local post 
office, "What do you have that's new?"


The Postal Service spent a lot of time and money on Tuesday's 
ceremony, but in many cities where Lunt and Fontanne once 
brought great theater, they've already closed out of town.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 

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