Mlb Uncut Press Sheet

At about 3:18pm Eastern Time I got a Facebook post from the USPS talking up MLB issue. I followed the link to the Postal Store and the MLB 4-Player Uncut Press Sheet was listed for purchase. I ordered one and got a confirmation e-mail stating it would be available for delivery after Sep 1st. So .... did they go back on their word and print more? It is not listed under the stamp at the store but if you follow the sidebar link it is listed. Huh!

That's extremely interesting and, if true, it should come as very little surprise to anyone. Again, if true, I'd expect there to be a royal brouhaha from collectors over USPS' underhandedness in this whole affair.

Checked it out on the USPS site and it seems to be true. Here's the webpage.

https://store.usps.com/store/promo/..._MLBAllStars

What annoys me most is that I ordered a whole sheet. I was going to chop it up into se-tenants and probably just sell them for face value, since I don't want a WHOLE SHEET. Well, if there are more available now, and the USPS prints a ton, then my chances of being able to sell off my extras has gone WAY DOWN.

Re Ipmiller's post -- The link to the USPS website merely says "uncut press sheet," not necessarily the imperf variety. Here's their definition of what will be available September 1:

"...What is an uncut press sheet?

A press sheet containing multiple panes of stamps not yet trimmed into individual units, with selvage markings denoting production details."

Wait and see, I guess.

From the page lpmiller linked to:

OK, I didn't see that -- all very confusing. If the additional printing doesn't arrive until September 1, I wonder if that's too late to make (imperf) first day covers?

I suppose, to keep their 1000 sheet limited printing promise, they could introduce some small change to the Sep 1st sheets thereby creating a third but much more available variety. There is really no good course of action for the USPS now.

The USPS allows 60 days following the date of issue of a new stamp to service your own first day covers. This would bring us to September 20, 2012.

If the USPS fulfills uncut press sheet orders on a timely basis, that should give collectors ample time to submit items for FDOI cancels.

Given all of the upset this issue is causing, it wouldn't be out of the question that the USPS extends the deadline for the MLB Stamp FDOI so that such cancellations requests can get processed even after that date. Although I have no inside information to suggest that the USPS would actually do that, it's just that I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

Cal516 has raised an interesting point. If additional MLB Press Sheets are "reprints", will collectors find some minor variety amongst them? Even if there is no physical change to the stamps themselves, the USPS could identify them with a different plate number, which would make them yet another variety of these stamps that collectors will seek.

The USPS probably doesn't much care, as this is all clear profit for them; the individual collectors are the ones that are going to feel the pinch (in their wallets). Of course, we can all say that no one is forcing anyone to buy these things, but the fact remains that if distinct varieties of a stamp can be had, many (if not most collectors) will be on line to get them.

As long as the Sept. 1st press sheets don't get different Scott numbers, I'll be happy.

I think the USPS, for some reason, didn't think these imperforate press sheets would be philatelically significant.

I just checked the above link to the USPS site and the press sheets are all available including the first one that was 'sold out'. I am calling today and if they reprinted the first sheet I am cancelling my entire order. I had a feeling they would do this. It is not the first time they went back on their word.

Yes, they are reprinting the 4 player press sheet.

I understand the next issue of Linn's Stamp News is going to carry a big news article about this whole fiasco. There are also reports that people who originally ordered the MLB 4 Player Press Sheets but were advised that they were "sold out" are now being called back by the USPS advising that they are now being offered again and asking collectors if they still wanted to order them.

What I find disturbing is that the USPS can't make up their minds in what they are doing and (as I said in another thread) the lack of communication on this issue by the USPS is deafening. In other words, the USPS would have been much better off if they had issued a news bulletin or press release on the subject explaining the reasoning for their action. Although still distasteful to some, at least it would have put the USPS on record as to how and why they were going back on the terms of their original announcement.

I suspect the USPS will probably make some mention of it in their next Postal Bulletin due out later this week.

Personally, I find the whole thing fascinating but as I had said at the outset, I do not collect Press Sheets and this one is no exception. They are too expensive for my budget (if I were to collect all five varieties) and besides they are too big and bulky to collect and I don't have the wall space to display them properly. Of course, that doesn't stop anyone else from collecting them if they desire to do so, but the idea that someone is going to profit big time by having pre-ordered these items early, has all but fallen apart.

While I realize this happened a generation earlier and the parties involved are all different, back in 1962 the US error stamp for the Dag Hammarskjold issue was reprinted with the error so as to devalue any "rare" examples of the stamp that reached the market. I recall the Postmaster General at the time making a very cursory comment that the Post Office is not in the business of making rarities for collectors in keeping with "the Postmaster General's policy of avoiding production of rare or over-valued philatelic items..."

It certainly sounds as if the USPS is keeping with a similar policy in the present day.

It sounds like they just increased the sheet count to 2500, to make it the same as the other sheets issued. It's a nice compromise between making more money and completely devaluing the collectible. I think the big mistake was taking pre-orders. If they went on sale on the first day of issue, no one would have room to complain if they didn't get one.

While I agree that it does look like the press sheets are "only" being expanded to the limit of 2500, given what has happened already, there is nothing to stop the USPS from printing more of them if demand should warrant it.

Another way to look at this is from the printer's perspective. The little bit I know about printing methods suggest that it is more cost effective to run a larger printing than just to do it for 1000 or 1500 pieces and in terms of cost, the smaller the print run, the more expensive the printing costs are. This makes me think that the USPS had the idea of printing more of these things all along and they just were intentionally slow in announcing it to the public. Besides, the USPS will probably need enough extra press sheets along the way to address lost or damaged stamps that don't get to their destination in good order.

I guess we all just sit on the sidelines and wait to see what happens as the issue date draws near to see if the USPS further modifies their original printing schedule for these press sheets.