Posted on 05/01/2017 3:55:10 AM PDT by NYer
Struggling at a time when more people write emails than drop letters in the mailbox, or pay their bills online instead of licking a stamp to send in the check, the United States Postal Service has been trying all sorts of ways to keep the postage stamp alive. The latest innovation is a first-of-its-kind stamp that changes when you touch it.
The Postal Service announced the upcoming issue of its Total Solar Eclipse Forever stamp, which commemorates the August 21 eclipse. The stamp transforms into an image of the Moon from the heat of a finger.
“Tens of millions of people in the United States hope to view this rare event, which has not been seen on the U.S. mainland since 1979,” The USPS says in a press release. “The eclipse will travel a narrow path across the entire country for the first time since 1918. The path will run west to east from Oregon to South Carolina and will include portions of 14 states.”
The Total Eclipse Stamp will be unveiled on June 20 at the Art Museum of the University of Wyoming in Laramie. That’s the date of the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice, and the university is inviting the public to arrive at 11:30 a.m. to witness a unique architectural feature where a single beam of sunlight shines on a silver dollar embedded in the floor, which occurs at noon on the summer solstice in the UW Art Museum’s Rotunda Gallery.
On the new stamp itself is a photograph taken by astrophysicist Fred Espenak that shows a total solar eclipse seen from Jalu, Libya, on March 29, 2006. Using thermochromic ink, the Total Solar Eclipse stamp will reveal a second image. Using the body heat of your thumb or fingers and rubbing the eclipse image will reveal an underlying image of the Moon (Espenak also took the photograph of the Full Moon). The image reverts back to the eclipse once it cools.
The back of the stamp pane provides a map of the August 21 eclipse path and times it may appear in some locations. Visit NASA’s website to view detailed maps of the eclipse’s path.
Art director Antonio Alcalá of Alexandria, Virginia, designed the stamp.
Thermochromic inks are vulnerable to UV light and should be kept out of direct sunlight as much as possible to preserve this special effect, the Postal Service points out.
cool
Mood stamps?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to cut down the number of employees and shrink the size of the department?
And you wonder why the USPS operates in the red?
And you wonder why the USPS operates in the red?
“...instead of licking a stamp...”
I don’t pay bills online, but it’s been a long time since I licked a stamp. They’ve all been peel-and-stick for years.
Out of touch much, John?
my first thought was “how much did THAT cost?”
[Wouldn’t it make more sense to cut down the number of employees and shrink the size of the department?]
Postage did away with direct mail advertising by small business.
The President has ordered a cut in expenses. This stamp is not only unnecessary it sounds very expensive. USPO cut expenses.
The President has ordered a cut in expenses. This stamp is not only unnecessary it sounds very expensive. USPO cut expenses.
The USPS makes money from commemorative stamps. There are still stamp collectors who want to buy sheets of any commemorative, and a total eclipse of the sun stamp definitely qualifies.
Ah yes, the US Junk Mail Service.
Yea, like the Kwanzaa stamps they forced on my wife last year.
I don’t think they’ve ever had anyone try to return stamps before I walked in.
The girl had no idea what to do. She said the Kwanzaa stamps were all they had full sheets of.
Think of it, the United States Postal Service did not have sheets of American flag stamps.
She finally found a couple sheets of Purple Heart stamps.
I was all set to ask why the USPS honors a day made up by a communist who tortured and killed his girlfriend.
The environmental impact statement and / or permit application would be delicious to read. Perhaps our more talented authors could draft some up for the various wetlands in our Nation's Capital :)
As a stamp collector this will definitely be on my list to buy.
As an Oregonian I’ll be looking forward to seeing the eclipse.
Seriously. I'm an on-again, off-again numismatist, and I got excited to see my 11-year old grandson get interested in the hobby. He's been collecting pennies (he's got about 200 of them so far), some from the 40s and 50s. I chuckled when I saw him carrying them in his pocket, so we made a trip this weekend to our local coin shop. I got him some plastic coin tubes and several of those Whitman coin folder books so he could start organizing them. He's been happily sorting through them since then.
I was chatting with the store owner, who used to be a stamp collector. He lost interest, he said, when the Postal Service started issuing "100 new stamps a year". I told him I'd lost interest in US quarters with all of those ones the mint had put out as well.
Cool.
The postal worker I spoke to the other day when I was mailing a package told me about a really beautiful new stamp they had. It’s, I believe, Oscar De La Renta, and they are truly a huge, gorgeous stamp. There are 13 on the page. I gifted the one page I bought but I’m going to get more, they are the most beautiful stamp I’ve seen in a long time.
It is a very beautiful stamp featuring 10 details from some of his most exquisite gowns.
My daughter in law is a fairly new citizen. She said looking through my stamp collection really filled out her knowledge of American history and life. Stamp collecting is a great hobby.
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