August Stats

 

A respectable month of activity in Postcrossing this August:  During the month, I sent 76 cards and received 65.  This month my ranking jumped to 25th highest Postcrossing member in the USA (with 83,875 members) based on number of sent cards.  Still #1 in Alabama.  Incidentally, the USA is only second most active among world countries in Postcrossing.  First place by a large margin is held by Germany.  The USA has collectively sent a little more than 118 million cards, while Germany has sent 160 million cards.  Germany has achieved this with fewer Postcrossing members; nearly 84,000 for the USA, and about 69,000 for Germany.  So per capita, German Postcrossers are nearly twice as active as Americans, sending 232 cards per member, versus 141 for Americans.  Germans end up sending 18.2 % of all cards on Postcrossing, while Americans send 13.4%.  But there is a glimmer of hope: in the last 30 days, Americans comprised 17.6% of all new members of Postcrossing, while Germans were just 6.3% of new members.  I wonder if this is new enthusiasm sparked by the newly issued Postcrossing stamp.  Just an interesting comparison. Write on.

Semper paratus

 In a surprise announcement, the USPS will issue a new stamp to honor the 150th anniversary of the US Coast Guard Academy.  The new stamp will be issued at the academy in New London, CT on September 12.  This is of special interest to me because of my connection to the place: I was a Coast Guard cadet at the academy in the mid 1980s.  Yes, I had intended to embark on a career as a Coast Guard officer, doing noble work like stopping criminals and rescuing distressed boaters, though realistically it would have mostly been more mundane chores like painting navigational buoys and counting fish in fisherman's nets.  Not since the stamp issued in 2015 honoring the CG Cutter Eagle on August 4th, Coast Guard Day (and my birthday), have I been so eagerly anticipating a new stamp release.  My own Coast Guard career was cut short when I washed out of the academy after two years.  But in that time, I met many very fine people among my classmates and remain friends with a few of them.  Two members of my academy class of '87 went on to command the CGC Eagle.  One would eventually run the academy itself.  And the current top guy running the entire US Coast Guard is a former classmate of mine.  So with pride and nostalgia, I eagerly await this new stamp issue, and everything it represents.

Rare card alert- followup

 On June second, I sent my first card using the newly issued Postcrossing stamp to a recipient in the UK.  And today, after a journey of 4,217 miles and eight days, the card was registered.  Since then, I've sent many more cards with the new Postcrossing stamps, so Postcrossers all around the world are soon to see the results of years of work that resulted in these stamps.  A brave new era in postal mail.  Write on!

Rare card alert

 After a long day at work and a harrowing commute in a severe thunderstorm, I arrived home yesterday to find my order of the new Postcrossing stamps had finally arrived.  And this morning, I sent off my first one!  As I've mentioned before, the USPS Postcrossing stamp comes after years of petitioning by Postcrossing members to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, the group that recommends new stamp designs to the USPS.  I had written my own letter to the committee several years ago, and never received any reply or acknowledgement, so I had come to believe it was a dead issue.  But then only a few weeks ago, I learned that a Postcrossing stamp issue would be at last released, as it indeed was at the World Expo stamp convention in Boston last week.  So today, the first maxi card (a postcard featuring the stamp image, an actual stamp with first day of issue postmark, and a matching stamp for international postage on the address side) went out in the mail today.  Hope you enjoy it, Richard in the UK!  Write on!

A beautiful day in the World Expo

 The long awaited announcement was just made in Boston at the 2026 World Expo of the USPS encore stamp issue.  And the winner is... *opens envelope*... Mr. Rogers!  The commemorative honoring Fred Rogers in 2018 will now be once again available starting June 1.  Mr. Rogers was such a beloved figure, and is entirely deserving of the honor.  But I still would have liked frozen treats to be available once again.  Regardless, write on!

Boston World Expo

 We are now just hours away from Boston 2026 World Expo, a multi day convention featuring all things postal.  This event has special interest, as the USPS will be releasing several highly anticipated new stamp designs, including the long-sought Postcrossing theme stamp.  The USPS celebrated 250 years of existence last year, and the USA will do the same this year, so many stamp issues are of a patriotic nature.  These include bald eagles, American bison, and treasures of the Revolutionary Era.  But what has held my attention more than anything else is the Encore Issue.  On Saturday, May 24, a special repeat release of some previous stamp favorite will be announced.  About a year ago, voting was open to the public to choose which design from a large selection will be chosen for re-release.  For myself, I chose the frozen treats scratch and sniff stamp, which smelled like delicious ice cream.  The chosen design has been a closely guarded secret, and I've not heard any rumors as to which former stamp will once again become available.  The "stamp con" will undoubtedly be a great experience; I wish I could be there in person.  But I will be soon sending a whole slew of new stamps on postcard to recipients all around the world.  Write on!

Blog to blog, redux

 Last December, I wrote about a blog that displays postal covers from around the world.  The blog's author, Daniel Mathieu, solicits postal covers from like-minded people: those with beautiful stamps and interesting postmarks receive extra thanks.  So back in December, I sent an envelope with the newly issued USPS Revolutionary War stamps.  Then a couple weeks ago during National Letter Writing Month, I sent another cover with brand new stamps depicting famous individuals of the Revolutionary War.  President George Washington was an obvious choice to use, in combination with the Marquis de Lafayette, a nod towards the important contributions of France in obtaining American freedom.  This time, in addition to a letter using my best Duolingo French, I included some photo postcards of my hometown, Birmingham, Alabama.  Daniel shows these in his post, along with some links to additional info for those who might wish to know more about Washington, Lafayette, the Boston Tea Party, Birmingham, or our Vulcan Statue.  Write on!

Breaking news: Postcrossing stamps

 For about as long as I've been a member of Postcrossing (well over 13 years), there has been an effort to create a US postage stamp design dedicated to the hobby.  In fact, many American Postcrossers have a plea in their profile urging everyone to contact the USPS Citizen's Advisory Committee to include a Postcrossing stamp design in each year's new stamp issues.  Many years ago, I myself wrote the committee on more than one occasion and never received any sort of response.  I'd given up hope that the USPS would ever issue a Postcrossing stamp, even as other nations continue to do so:  Germany, Estonia, and Czech Republic are but a few.  Well, today I was thrilled to learn that in May the USPS  will release a new stamp dedicated to Postcrossing.  The issue includes four different designs, and are triangular.  It will, of course, be at the international 1 ounce rate (currently $1.70).  Seems like persistence pays off, as they say.  I can't wait for the USA to join the family of nations with a stamp dedicated to Postcrossing.  Write on.

Blog to blog...to blog

 

In a recent post, I described how I had sent a postal cover to a blogger who solicits them, and it had been received by him in France.  In return for sending him these, he promises to send one of his own and I received mine two days ago.  He definitely has the right touch- the envelope has received beautiful hand stamp cancellations, as opposed to my lackluster processing plant high speed dot-matrix cancellation.  Also, in addition to the international postage, mine included a commemorative landscaped stamp of lower Manhattan, one of my favorite places in the world.  This is surely just a coincidence; I don't think he could have known of my frequent trips to New York City over the years.  And inside were included some picture postcards of Mende, the hometown of Daniel, my French correspondent.  Mende is an ancient community in the south of France, with a history that dates to Roman times, around 200 BC.  It is a cathedral town, and the Mende Cathedral is, like the more famous one in Paris, called Notre-Dame, and also is dedicated to Saint Privat.  This whole exchange has been very interesting.

Blog to blog

 A few months ago, I discovered the blog "La Boite aux Lettres du Monde", which my high school and Duolingo French lessons enable me to translate as "Mailbox of the World".  The blog author, Daniel, solicits postal mail with interesting stamps from all over the world, which he posts on his blog.  In return, he promises to reply to senders with mail of his own.  This is a man with whom I share a like mind, so I sent off my letter on about November 30th.  Today, Daniel has posted my letter.  For the international 1st class 1 ounce postage rate of $1.70, I used two first class forever stamps ($ 0.78 each) and a vintage 14 cent stamp.  The paired forever stamps come from this year's issue of battlefield scenes of the American Revolutionary War, which was issued this past April.  Some of that stamp issue are matched pairs, or two stamps that combine to make one scene; the ones I used were from the Battle of Lexington and Concord.  I've had great enjoyment following this blog, and seeing all the beautiful stamps from around the world, and I look forward to receiving my reply from Daniel.  Stay tuned.

Rare card alert

 Today I received a postcard from China.  Not in itself a rare thing, but I'm glad to see mail from China has resumed, after being stopped for a time after confusion resulting from the de minimis duty changes.  No, this card had a unique feature:  stamps with fluorescent ink.  When I shined an ultraviolet light on them, unseen features appeared. (I am a research scientist, and use a UV light in my daily experiments in the laboratory.)  The sender of the card explained that the stamps showed prehistoric fossils, and under UV light, the location where they were discovered is revealed.  Pretty nifty!  Even the other stamps, like the one on the lower right, with the large Chinese characters and the '3' on it had some fluorescent security features embedded in it.  This is the first time that I'm aware of fluorescent ink being used in stamps.  However, nearly invisible fluorescent barcodes have been applied to mail by the USPS to aid in sorting for many years.

Stamps under normal light.

The same stamps under ultraviolet light.

Take the long way home

 Not for the first time, USPS tracking has provided me with some entertainment and not a little frustration as I've followed the path of a package as it travels to my home.  This time the package is a shipment of new stamps from the USPS itself.  All went well as the package travelled the familiar route from Kansas City to central Alabama.  It covered that distance in a single day, which is unusually fast (I buy a lot of stamps via the USPS web site, and I'm familiar with this route and the normal transit time.  In the Birmingham sorting center on the Friday before the Labor Day three day weekend, I reasonably expected it to be delivered on Saturday the 30th of August.  But instead, the next tracking update showed the package - less than 20 miles from my home; So close, USPS! - next showed up in... San Franciso, California!  Yes, according to the tracking info, the package made it across the continent in a single day.  Whether this is a tracking system anomaly, or the package physically travelled to northern California is unclear.  The package languished there over the holiday weekend, and part of this past week before returning to Birmingham a week later than when it had last been there.  It is now supposedly safe at the Helena post office, and will hopefully be delivered to my home in the next hour or two.  What a roundabout way to get stamps!

Play it again, Sam

 As a part of the celebration of the 250th year of the US Postal System, a contest is underway to choose one of the many past stamps designs that will be reissued.  Over the years, many beautiful and innovative designs have been released, and now the public can vote on which one of these will return.  Voting is free and continues until September 30, 2025.  The winner will then be announced at the Boston 2026 World Expo in May, 2026.  ( A special stamp for this huge philately convention will be issued in a couple weeks on August 14.)  Looking back on the many wonderful stamps designs eligible for voting, I see some I have really liked.  The innovative color-changing lunar eclipse stamp.  The beautiful dual design transcontinental railway stamps.  and the fun stamps depicting Bugs Bunny, Peanuts, and Star Wars characters.  But my favorite stamp is the scratch 'n sniff scented ice cream treats stamps.  They really did work and smelled like a summertime ice cream treat.  Voting is free and requires no registration, so vote early and vote often.  Write on!