Another New Issue Disaster: Early Release Of Hanukkah Stamp

It's being reported on another website that the USPS has just authorized the "early release" of the Hanukkah Stamp on Saturday, November 9, 2013, a full 10 days before the scheduled issue date of November 19, 2013. If you go to the USPS Store's website you will see that you can readily order these stamps and releated philatelic products now as they are no longer on "preorder", yet there will still be a formal "first day of issue ceremony" as previously announced on November 19th:

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...olidayStamps

Just another example of how keeping up with new USPS issues is becoming more and more difficult for the average collector. Of course, this isn't the first "early release" of a new stamp. If you recall, the USPS did the same thing with the Love Ribbon stamp of 2012.

On a saturday?

Terry

Yes -- on a Saturday, they will begin to be released for sale. No official first day of issue ceremony, though, as that's still slated for November 19th. It's just that the stamps (if the post office has them) may be sold beginning tomorrow. It's kind of weird in that the last Postal Bulletin advised that the stamps are NOT being automatically distributed to post offices but had to be requisitioned by each post office based on their need/request for the item. I suppose many post offices did just that. If not, you can always obtain them through USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services.

Remember, too, the Medal of Honor stamps are being released on Monday, November 11th (Veteran's Day) even though it's a post office holiday and no one can obtain the stamps until the next business day (Tuesday, November 12th) unless, of course, you happen to be at the First Day of Issue Ceremony in Washington, DC.

Sorry for being dense. Why is a stamp being released early a "disaster"?

I actually have pre-ordered the Hanukkah press sheet. Hopefully this means I'll get it earlier than expected.

Well, perhaps not a disaster, but certainly an anomaly.

The term "disaster" was primiarly used for those who collect and service first day covers. It's a big thing with them that the stamp be issued on the date announced. If they get issued earlier than the "first day of issue" the collectibility factor is affected, especially because there will be numerous "early" postmarks for the stamps out there.

The USPS has now created a track record of doing things that are totally against the acceptable standard of philately. The response is that the philatelists are no longer the focus group for the stamps; the USPS has the mistaken philosophy that the main market interest should be to others so that they do these "stunts" to generate perceived interest in their products.

Although no one has confirmed this, the probable reason behind the early release of the stamp probably has more to do with the Harry Potter stamp (also slated for issue on November 19th) as the USPS wants the primary media attention that day to focus on the Harry Potter booklet.

We are phiatelists.

Our job is to record and evidence what post offices do.

That is all.

We do NOT have a contract with postal authorities. We have no obligation to buy their stuff. They have no 'acceptable standard of philately'. Their 'acceptable standards' are a product of their sole responsibility, which is to people who buy stamps to prepay the sending of mail. They have NO responsibility to people who choose to buy their bits of paper to stick in albums.

If people choose to collect stamps by entering in an arrangement with the postal authorities to buy everything they put out, they do so because they want to follow the lazy man's way of collecting. That is their prerogative; but they can hardly then complain if things go awry and they end up having to do some REAL collecting.

Doesn't the early issue then become the 'first day of issue' rendering the advertised or 'official' first day of issue a nonsense? I realise many collectors like them, but I don't collect these decorated FDCs preferring postally used normal correspondence examples. British FDCs seem to have fallen out of favour, at least judging by the boxes of them I see being offered at 50p a cover (£1 each sometimes but chancing it) that appear to go forever unsold.

Terry

I think if anything, the USPS needs to be less organized and less predictable. Don't Announce every stamp a year ahead of time. Keep us guessing and wondering when the next release is and what it is. Give a day or two warning about a new stamp. or maybe sometimes no announcement at all! Catch us by surprise. Make us wonder if we can find a cover that's a day or two earlier than everyone else, because the post office rolled out a new stamp at 4 pm on a Tuesday. Print some stamps on Flat Plates or Rotary. Not all of them, just some. Then maybe change the design a little bit without saying anything. Tiny changes that we might not even notice right away. Don't announce that people can find a rightside up airplane if they buy enough stamps, just make them think they have a small chance to find a "rare" (did I just use that word?) stamp every time they go to the post office.

Ok, that wouldn't work for a lot of collectors. Or USPS in the 21st century. But it has what I like about 19th and early 20th century stamps. Some mystery. Some "how did we wind up with 7 varieties of this stamp"? Some thrill of the hunt.

I certainly can't consider this as a disaster.
Tom

Sounds like someone's working for the USPS marketing team. As for myself, I would abandon the hobby if this ever came to be!




Remember, that back in the late 1800s and early 1900s the so-called "varieties" many of us search for were never considered "varieties" back in the day. In fact, some of the stamps from that era would never be considered varieties today. Remember, that the policies and procedures of the Scott Catalog listing changes dramatically through the years creating the varieties we cherish today. It took decades to identify them, which is part of the reason why some varieties became so valuable -- they were only identified long after the stamps went off-sale.

Sorry I took this discussion way off topic. I completely agree with you regarding varieties, wt1. I think I'll respond to your comments in a new thread.

The biggest disaster is, that they've released this on a Saturday. There's online companies that sell tea where the website is shut down on Saturdays.

There's also been some commentary that the USPS may not have fully thought through the fact that Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath and would not have been the best choice for a first day of release for such a stamp.

just so.

An interesting read on the Vermont blacksmith who created the Menorah used in the 2013 Hanukkah stamp:

http://rutlandherald.com/article/20...967/0/NEWS01