2015 USPS Issues... News? Thoughts? Opinions?

The "From Me To You" stamps will officially be issued on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 in Washington, DC. Stamps, FDCs, Press Sheets and the Ceremony Program for this issue are now offered for pre-sale at the USPS Store at the link below:

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...d=buy-stamps

pre-sale, sign sheet, where this hobby is going ? I'm so happy to stop my collection way before those PhD in marketing get hire at USPS and Canada Post

This is the Maya Angelou stamp:

Available for pre-order https://store.usps.com/store/browse...d=buy-stamps at usps.com.

The Maya Angelou entire pane of 12 has a better effect:



By the way, the stamp is being issued in Washington, DC on Tuesday, April 7, 2015.

It seems that in keeping with today's (March 20, 2015) Water Lilies stamps, the USPS is planning to issue previously unannounced stamped envelopes featuring the Water Lilies designs. They will be available in a pack of 10 PSA envelopes (with seals) featuring two designs at $9.95 and the two designs will also be available as first day covers, both items to be issued on April 17, 2015 in New York, NY. Pre-orders can be made at the links below:

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...ds-envelopes

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...t-day-covers

Some updates to the 2015 US New Issues:

The USPS Store's website (as of 03/24/2015) is no longer carrying the Gifts of Friendship Press Sheet (without die cuts) nor the Civil War (1865) Press Sheet (without die cuts) presumably because both have sold out.

The Gifts of Friendship Press Sheet was limited to 1500; the Civil War (1865) Press Sheet was limited to 1000.

Also of interest might be the fact that the upcoming Missing Children Stamp (Forget-Me-Not Flowers) will be issued on Monday, May 15, 2015 at 12:30 PM (PDT) in Anaheim, CA:

https://www.facebook.com/events/662815303846503/

For those who collect "without die cuts" Press Sheets, it seems that you're too late if you haven't already ordered the Gifts of Friendship or Civil War Press Sheets scheduled to be issued in April. Linn's Stamp News has received confirmation from the USPS that both "without die cuts" Press Sheets have "sold out" even before they were issued!

http://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps...-out-quickly

This has to make you wonder if this is going to lead to higher quantity availability of "without die cut" Press Sheets in the future or if the USPS is intentionally trying to create a collectible by limiting its production.

This seems like a reversal of prior policy for USPS. The USPS doesn't benefit from the collectible market itself, but the USPS could potentially benefit by creating an artificial demand with a limited run and then later releasing more.

I'm glad that quotation marks are used for the words "sold out", because it is not literally true that such press sheets are actually sold out. To prevent a few dealers from cornering the market on low-quantity issues, the USPS seems to have adopted the practice of withholding some quantity for pre-order sale. It's all but certain that the withheld stocks would be released for public sale after the issue dates of the stamps.

The exact same thing happened with the Modern Art in America press sheets.

Rideronthetrain,

If that's the case (and I'm not doubting you), I wonder why the USPS couldn't just be up front about it by limiting sales to dealers so as to have stocks for sale after the stamp is issued? Better than lying about it. There's too much distrust of public institution these days as it is, and this kind of lax approach to the truth rubs off on the public, and just adds to a culture in which truth is being replaced with "fake, but accurate."

Perhaps ... but they must also keep a few on hand as replacements for damaged sheets. Moreover, the USPS generally pulls an item from their web store before the supply has been totally exhausted. Postal patrons can still call & order the item once it has been removed, but this is generally true for only a brief time.

Just got back from Post Office, and clerk reassured me that USPS does indeed dedicate an allotment for pre-sale, and post offices will also get a small allotment.

Interesting ... thanks for the info! I was totallly unaware that some press sheets were distributed to post offices. I had just assumed one had to go thru SFS to obtain them.

Well, we'll have to wait and see. The clerk I talked to today is helpful, but not the most knowledgable/helpful person there when it comes to collecting. There is an older gentleman at my post office, and I will check with him on Monday to verify.

They generally aren't (they do sometimes bring some to a big show and they may have some at the first day ceremony).