Wednesday, July 18

postal service

My sister who is shopping for cute wedding stamps was recently told that any stamp that was ever issued is available at usps.com. I found this hard to believe, but was curious because those Warhol stamps were pretty awesome. (Though not necessarily the right fit for a wedding invitation.)

My search so far has led me to believe that this USPS worker did not know exactly what he/she was talking about, though there is a fun archive of stamps issued over the last ten years.

I also learned about First Day Covers, and found myself interested: A first day cover (FDC) is an envelope where the postage stamps have been cancelled on their first day of issue. Depending on the policy of the nation issuing the stamp, official first day postmarks may sometimes be applied to covers weeks or months after the date indicated.

I like this packet:



And also the stamps in this keepsake packet:


I love the image on these stamped envelopes:


And I'm looking forward to using pictures of lighthouses and vintage mahogany speedboats to cover my letter-sending needs in the future. I'm also drawn to these Wonders of America stickers.

*Funny sidenote: I remember the USPS and Postal Service controversy, but did you know that usps.com sells Postal Service tunes?

6 comments:

Sarah said...

My Mum used to send First Day Covers to my sisters and I. With nothing in the envelope, it was just sealed! I think I still have them somewhere.
I think you can get your own photos put on stamps here. Like the happy couple, your pet etc...

the mama monster said...

Hi ali.How are you guys doing? lovely blog.

jordan said...

I researched this when I got married but I found you could only find old stamps on ebay or on a few stamp websites. We sent out a lot and our invitation was heavy so we ended up going with the Edna Ferber stamp. I liked her hat.

Anonymous said...

Lane should probably use those new Star Wars stamps for her wedding.

Lane said...

Hi Ali! I always like when I get indirectly featured on alilovescurtis.

So far I've only found stuff on eBay and zazzle.com, where you can make your own stamps or buy others' designs. Not quite the same as vintage, but you could make some cool stuff.

This business from the post office lady and Martha Stewart both about finding vintage stamps for wedding invites isn't so simple as far as I can tell. After several trips to USPS and internet searching I'm going back to good ol' 41 centers.

nydampress said...

I am glad you brought this topic up! I was shopping around on the usps site the other day for cool postcard stamps (for the rsvp card for our wedding) And all they had was panthers, doesn't exactly scream "Hey you are invited to our wedding", more like "Hey watch out for those wild big cats while hiking." I think I may just get some older 39 cent stamps because they are way cooler. Oh, and thank you so much for your comment on my latest print!!