New Batman Stamp - Question

So I see that the postal service is issuing a Batman stamp later this year http://www.linns.com/news/batman.aspx.

I live a fairly close to the Bat Cave NC post office. For obvious reasons folks might like a first day of issue postmark from this post office and I am willing to do run them down there and have them hand cancelled for free on the first day of issue.

My question is this; other than running around and trying to find the Batman stamp on the day of issue (often no easy feat in this part of the mountains of NC) is there any way to get these stamps ahead of time for preparation? (As you can tell I am not proficient in FDCs, I have only a rudimentary understanding of how SFS works.)
don

Unfortunately, no. The best you could hope for is to pre-order them from the USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services when they are first posted for sale and occasionally they may be shipped on or before the actual day of issue -- but no guarantees.

I would be more inclined to find an area post office that gets the stamps out on the first day of issue. Since most every new commemorative issue is automatically shipped to all post offices nationwide in time for a national release on the first day of issue, the key is to find a post office that puts them on sale on the first day of issue. I know from experience in my area that the smaller, single person post offices are more apt to have them for sale on the first day than larger post offices that have them "in the vault" and have to wait for supervisory personnel to put them in the clerk's hands for sale. That's where the distribution problem to retail customers usually lies.

Of course, all of this is based on "usual" distribution arrangements. Given the fiasco of distribution in "waves" that the Harry Potter Stamp had when first issued, only SFS and certain "premier" post offices got them on the FDOI and not only were the locations few and between, but the limited initial distribution created a high demand for them, so they initially sold out quickly. Many who wanted them earlier rather than later had to order from SFS or wait until they were distributed nationwide almost a month later.

Given the idea that these Batman stamps are being promoted at ComicCon 2014 and that Warner Brothers and DC Comics have apparently agreed to promote the stamp(s) well into 2015, my guess is they are not going to be readily available nationwide on the first day of issue, but that's merely speculation on my part.

Of course, if a town such as Bat Cave, NC were to offer a special pictorial cancel for the Batman stamp, that would give potential cover collectors a greater window to obtain the postmarks well after the actual date of issue.

Although most U.S. stamps are released nationwide on the first day, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will designate a single city as the "official" first day city. (Sometimes multiple cities are designated as "official.") The location is usually appropriate to the subject of the stamp, and will be the only place where the "First Day of Issue" postmark is used. You could ask your postmaster to ask the powers that be if his city could be a "official city" or the Batman issue. Usually they are happy to do ths for you -they benefit also in many ways.

I suspect many postmark collectors would be very content with a BAT CAVE postmark on a Batman stamp even if it were not FDC. A normal postmark is not so "contrived".

Well, the USPS never did issue a Batman stamp in 2014 (at least not yet) but that didn't stop Bat Cave, NC from issuing a special pictorial cancel on July 23, 2014. Requests for the postmark are extended for 30 days, so it is still possible to get one if you have interest. Details are shown in the second entry at the link below:

http://about.usps.com/postal-bullet...info_006.htm

Hi 51studebaker,

I was wondering if your offer was still good at all? I see that they're releasing the stamp next week, and my father is a gigantic Batman fan and stamp collector. I actually joined this site simply because I saw your post. Please let me know if you'd be willing to do one or two extra for my father at your post office.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Robin,
I'll see if I can pull this off but please do not get your hopes to high. It will depend if I can get my hands on the Batman stamps next Thursday (Oct. 8) the day of issue here in Western NC. If I can find them, I'll hop in the car and drive down to Bat Cave and see if I can get a few sets postmarked. Ideally they might be able to use the special 'bat' cancel that wt1 mentions in post above but that remains to be seen. I'll try to make some extra sets in case anyone else might also be interested.
Don

Regardless of whether you're successful or not, thanks for trying!

The Batman stamps are being issued on October 9 ... which is Thursday.

Robin,
Ok, here is what I know so far. The Bat Cave NC post office does NOT have any of the new Batman stamps that will be available tomorrow. The Lake Lure (about 10 miles away from Bat Cave) has about 8 sheets. But I have located some other sheets at a PO which I should be able to get my hands about 25 miles away. Of course the computer will not let them sell the before tomorrow so I will have to get up early and head out to nab them.

The Bat Cave Post office hours tomorrow are 9:30AM til Noon; leaving only a few hours to get them to service the covers. I had to make several calls to get them to say if they could even support the 'Handback Service' for covers but after quoting them the Post Office Operations manual 231.4.A(1) Handback service rule they seem to be up for the challenge. We will see. They do have a small tub of other requests they say they will try fulfill but I am unsure of how they will do this if they don't get any stamps. They also have two different cancels they can use, both have the Bat Cave/date. The Post Master mentioned that they could cancel them in either black or red ink. I plan on making a few sets including the one set for you. There will be 8 covers (one for each stamp), on standard size envelope, unaddressed and no cachet.

Given the above logistics, I don't imagine that there will be many of these First Day covers form Bat Cave NC. I'll let you know tomorrow if everything comes together.
Don

Hi Studebaker,

Again, I thank you for trying. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out.

However, even given the importance of the first day of issue postmark, I still think my Dad would flip for any Batman stamp postmarked from that Post Office. So if it doesn't work out today, if you could get a few stamps postmarked from that post office at a later date, I would definitely still be interested.

Thanks again!

RealName - Nate

I picked up my Batman stamps this morning at the post office. They are nice, but I was taken back by the "Bat Signal" (Round) Stamps that are significantly smaller than I expected ... only about 1" in diameter. I suppose the reason is to not confuse them with the International Mail (Round) Stamps which are about 1.5" in diameter by comparison.

For those who haven't seen it yet I have scanned the reverse text and illustration ... actually the B&W Batman illustration on the reverse would make for a nice element for a do-it-yourself cachet on a first day cover.



The Deck Card is also interesting in that it shows the four vertical Batman stamps in a block of four configuration that obviously does not exist:

I'm a long time fan of the Batman comics!

I almost hate to ask given the amount of trouble that arranging all this must be ... but I would love a set of covers from Bat Cave. If you made extras I would be willing to trade whatever you might like in return ... Thanks a bunch for your efforts!

Nate,
Had to run around to several PO's; they all had issues trying to ringing up the proper amount for a sheet of these stamps (wanting $194.00 per sheet is a bit much!).

Regina at the Bat Cave PO was new, but very helpful. Bat Cave had finally received the Batman stamps but they had none for sale because they were not yet logged in. She was not sure that they would get them logged in before they closed for the day (they wee only open 9:30Am til noon today).

Here are scans of the covers;






Please contact me so I can arrange to get the to you. Probably easiest way is if you would use the 'contact form' on my website.
http://www.stampsmarter.com/
Don