USPS Store Announces Christmas Magi Stamp Sold Out Online

I've never seen the USPS do this before, but it seems that they are now confirming that online sales of the Christmas Magi stamp are discontinued because their stock has sold out. Check with your post offices for local availability:

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...liday-stamps

Just as the 2014 date Poinsettia ATM booklet.

Just like the Global Forever Sea Temperatures stamps. Then suddenly within a month they replenished them. Seems like a business ploy...the post office is creating the hype to increase sales.

Wonder what stamp they will be out of next?

In the case of the Christmas Magi stamp, the print run was relatively low at 100 million stamps. Looking back at the Holy Family issue of 2012, the print run was 300 million. Then, in 2013 the USPS "reprinted" the Holy Family issue (effectively the same stamp with a different date) and the print run was reduced to 200 million stamps.

It was mentioned on another site that the USPS reported that about half of the distribution run was released to post offices nationwide, therefore we can assume that there are plenty out there (at local post offices) it is just that the quantity retained for sale at SFS is what is "sold out".

Just my opinion, but due to the seasonal demand and popularity for the issue, I suspect that the USPS will probably reprint the stamp again next year (but with a 2015 date).

It is a very well done stamp and is a great continuation of the holy family stamp. I like that the scene is darker with the magi making the day seem later. Having it sell out just will make people mad though. 100 million print run is way too low for a Christmas stamp. On the plus side, people still mail 100's of millions of Christmas cards... more used stamps for us collectors! I am in prime scavenging mode with all my relatives saving their envelopes. There's at least 9 different 2014 Christmas stamps to collect and probably more with all the varieties.

They were still available at my local post office, but I passed on them. It is a huge print run in my opinion. Were they available as imdiecut sheets? Then those used on envelopes are a limited treasure even if not sold out.

The stamp is nicely done.

One thing this year I noted a few friends sending holiday letters and wishes by email, who had sent cards in the past. Perhaps this type of mail is also decreasing, and the USPS has forecasted appropriately with a decreased print run of 100 million.

I wonder if they decreased the run because of the other two booklets they were selling. Christmas cards might be decreasing, but there are still quite a few being sent. There are other reasons for the Post office to be happy this Christmas. $2.35 cent gas is probably one of them. At 1.2 billion driving miles a year cutting the gas by half probably saves the PO a boatload of money every day.

My local PO (72113) was out of them this morning.

My local contract post office (University of Minnesota) was out of the Magi stamps and ALL forever stamps. They usually have a pretty healthy supply. I asked when more will be coming in and they said that there is a backlog at the distribution center and they might not get any more stamps by Friday!

My PO had a sign up saying they were out of all Christmas stamps, but that they had plenty of other forever stamps.

I'm wondering how large the shortage of Christmas stamps is... Sounds like sales have been good.