US Circus Themed Sheetlet Only Available In Stamp Yearbook

Why Yes! Scott 3095 was printed with skips in the perforations so they could be easily removed and placed well aligned onto the Riverboat posters, some of them with First Day of Issue postmark. The post office had these panes for sale in the postal catalog for 1 month before they sold out. So the stamps from the special printing have a minor number in Scott because of the difference in perforation. In the case of these circus stamps, I think the people at the post office didn't realise or didn't think it would matter which sheet was placed on the FDCs. If they advertised them as having the same version as from the sheet in the yearbook, and you received the one from the press sheet you should be able to return it. However, it is still a FDC of this circus imperf version which will evetually have a listing different from the yearbook version. Both types will eventually be listed I believe along with all these other recent imperfs.

Also does anybody have a FDC received of the yearbook version? If not, someone will be making FDCs of them with a local postmark for sure.

Well, I received the year book today. There is $38.22 worth of stamps in it excluding the circus sheet, so one is paying $26.73 for the circus sheet. Given its current and prospective market value, buying the year book is a no-brainer bargain.

No matter how much some here whine and complain, all indications are that this USPS ploy is turning out to be a resounding success. Expect more of the same next year and beyond.

If I were the USPS, I'd start to issue more and more oddball items (not limited to year books) to milk gullible collectors dry. Who cares what Scott editors do. The one who is laughing all the way to the bank is the USPS.

"all indications are that this USPS ploy is turning out to be a resounding success"

What indications? Do you have any sales figures the rest of us don't have?

The success goes to the quickness of the sales. 1. the Press sheet has (for all intensive purposes) sold out. 2. The yearbook has been again delayed (for late orders) to meet demand so I would suspect that these are in additional print (or back order from the printer) for orders not yet filled (surpassing previous year sales, [this could also require an additional printing of the press sheet to provide sufficient supply for the year book {&maybe more press sheets??}].). Is it because of the Circus issue, that remains but an assumption. But the Circus issue certainly didn't hurt sales. So from the market evidence available, I would say the 'ploy' was successful and the after market for either the single yearbook pane or the press sheets will determine demand against a limited supply. There 10,000 known press sheets printed, and unknown yearbooks available (original print and subsequent). When sales for the yearbook diminish (maybe 2-3 years from now) the USPS will pull from sale, destroy the stamp stock and give away the year book to youth clubs. Because many of the stamp issues are 'Forever' the USPS may decide that the issues are relevant beyond 2-3 years and continue to sell the book. Just looking at past history & and pondering. (As long as there are right side Jenny issues available, these also might have a longer than usual marketing period).

For whatever it's worth the USPS Store's website has the 2014 Yearbook back "in stock" for immediate sale:

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...p-collectors

Looks like the USPS is up to its regular customer service. I ordered Circus press sheets via phone the 2nd day they were available for preorder back in November. My credit card was charged on Dec. 8. Nothing received thus far, when everyone I know who ordered has already received theirs. I just hung up after spending an hour on hold trying to get order status and never did reach a human being.

Bah! Humbug!

My card was also charged on 12/8, received tube on 12/16.

The press sheets did so well because some people went that way instead of the yearbooks. I don't think you can say that the "order delays" for the yearbooks means they are making an additional printing.

If anyone is dividing up a press sheet, I'd be interested in having a sheetlet put on an envelope and mailed to me. {myUserName} at charter.net.

I think the reason the circus press sheets did so well is because it was the only way to get the souvenir sheet. It really is an issue of its own with only 120,000 souvenir sheets printed. Only 2K more than the imperf bugs bunny issue. Also, the SF did not have a limit on how many one can purchase. So it didn't take long for dealers to scarf this one up. I know of one dealer that was able to get 100 press sheets for $2400. That is why it did so well and why they are all over the place on ebay now.

I just got off the phone with the fulfillment center. An hour and 15 minutes on hold only to find out that while they did charge my card on December 8, for whatever reason my order was never processed. So much for using these on Christmas parcels.

Incompetent b*stards.

Did they print 120,000 souvenir sheets or 120,000 press sheets?

I decided to purchased a single imperf circus on ebay for $3.50 + $1.00 shipping rather than cut my circus press sheet at this time.

The USPS printed 10,000 Press Sheets of 12 souvenir sheets = 120,000 souvenir sheets.

Just to confuse things, the USPS is quoted in the Postal Bulletin as printing 900,000 STAMPS. Since there are three (3) stamps to each souvenir sheet, 360,000 stamps can be said to be used on the 10,000 Press Sheets, leaving 540,000 stamps (180,000 souvenir sheets) remaining for use in preparing USPS-serviced First Day Covers, along with the die-cut version of the souvenir sheet that is included in the 2014 Stamp Yearbook.

http://about.usps.com/postal-bullet...info_008.htm

As far as I know, outside of the 10,000 Press Sheets, the USPS has not identified the specific quantity of stamps and/or souvenir sheets used for each of these other philatelic product offerings, but one would assume that a large enough quantity was made available for this use (and for any damaged goods that may need to be returned for replacement) and the remainders will ultimately be destroyed.

Of course, there's no telling if the USPS will change things mid-stream, but that's the best information we have available to date.

WT1 - your math is correct. It is also clear from the complaints of collectors that FDCs were made from the imperf version of the 10K press sheets.