46-Cent Patriotic Star Coil Stamp For 2013

Today's USPS stamp release:






Although collectors will likely be able to buy strips of 25 of the stamps from SFS, I find it curious that this represents yet another denominated stamp intended for business use, especially for a financially strapped US Postal Service. It would seem to me the previously released design of the Kaleidoscope Flowers stamp would have served the needs of the business community without the need for printing yet another issue.

I was going to ask, who in the world.... would buy a coil of 10,000 stamps, but then I will take a guess that maybe a very large company with many mailings would buy a coil of that size? But still, that is a large one lump sum of money to purchase at once?

You mention buying strip of 25 stamps from SFS, what is "SFS"?

I thought all stamps would say "Forever" on them from now on, but guess they should have stamps with the actual denomination on them? (denomination is NOT the correct word, lolol.. I can't think straight!)

Side note: I go to the Post Office and I see people with these HUGE bins on wheels with MASSIVE amounts of mail and I droooool, sooo wish I worked in their mail room to go through all the emptied envelopes! Maybe I ought to apply for a janitorial job to sort through the trash

SFS is Stamp Fullfillment Services. This is essentially the USPS.com stamp store, where people can buy stamps and have them shipped to their homes.

And "denomination" is the correct word . That is why the stamps that do not have the printed value on them are sometimes called 'non-denominated.'

Additionally, if you know any companies near you that receive a lot of mail, it wouldn't hurt to contact them to see if you could collect the envelopes they receive for the stamps. Some might say yes.

You're right. Companies that do mass mailings would have need for these 10K coil rolls of stamps. Here's a product brochure of an attachment that one can add to their company's mail machine that makes it a "stamp affixer" and ultimately it can apply up to 18,000 stamps per hour. So there is apparently need for the device and the coil rolls of stamps, but we individual consumers have a hard time realizing just how great the demand may be for such things:

http://www.postmatic.net/stamp-affi...attachments/




"SFS" is Stamp Fulfillment Services or in other words the purchase of stamps and philatelic materials from the USPS Store's website that's based in Kansas City, MO. Strips of 25 of high volume coil rolls typically are available to collectors who would otherwise not be able to use (or afford) these high quantity coils.




"Forever" (non-denominated) stamps are designed for consumer use. Businesses still must purchase denominated stamps in the large capacity 3K or 10K coil rolls (the only way in which they are offered with the denomination applied).

If you remember, last year we had the 45-cent denominated Weathervane stamps in those 3K and 10K rolls for business mailers; the year before there was the 3K and 10K rolls of the denominated 44-cent quill and inkwell stamp, etc. The USPS doesn't want to encourage high volume mailers to buy stamps now that will be used in future years, because it is more profitable for them to have these mailers pay the full price for the stamps when needed. While a 1-cent postage increase may not seem like a lot, when companies have thousands or tens of thousands of mail pieces, the pennies quickly add up.

Incidentally, the USPS has tentatively announced that these 46-cent Patriotic Star Coil Stamps are going to be issued on March 19, 2013 in San Francisco, California 94188:

http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-rele...triotic-star