USPS Oig: Who Would You Like To See On A US Stamp?

Here's your opportunity to comment!

It seems the USPS Office of the Inspector General has posted this blog asking these questions of the public:

1. Who would you like to see on a stamp?

2. Would you send more mail if you could buy stamps honoring Bruce Springsteen, Justin Bieber, Michael Jordan, or Julia Roberts?

3. Do you think living celebrities should be allowed? Yes, but with certain criteria?

4. Is it important to you that the featured individual be American?

https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/put-your-stamp-it

This is non country specific. Sounds specific to me.

45 years ago the British put Gandhi-ji on stamps. I think he was the first non-British person to appear on a UK stamp (unless you count our German royal family of the 19th century). Did this make people buy the stamp any more, apart from the rate being that for air-mail to India? I don't know, but it's a fine line between international celebrity and international fame. I just get the feeling that living "celebrities" would squeeze every last cent of royalties for appearing on a stamp, whilst the stamps with dead ones would be treated more like a small memorial. Ah yes, I remember them... Would it make me buy any more stamps? Depends on how many letters I had to post.

Even though I see nothing wrong with "frivolous" subjects such as Star Wars and Harry Potter, I'm still just old fashioned enough that I prefer that the honor of appearing on a US stamp be a posthumous one. But I see nothing wrong with striking while the iron is hot and doing it within the first year or two of their passing. I'm sure the era of the living celebrity on US stamps is coming but that's one bridge I'd rather not see crossed. Many collectors could probably learn to live with it if the subjects are worthy and there's only a couple of them per year. But if it turned into an endless stream of the celebrity of the month, it would be the last straw for a lot of collectors.

I'm unhappy with the USPS at the moment. I hardly send any mail through the USPS as it is, a mere handful per year, I just don't need to, but I recently learned that a check I mailed to a stamp dealer got lost in the mail and I had to send him another. It's bad enough he only takes checks, it's worse to have the post office lose the check in the mail and have to put a stop payment on it.

And they want me to send more mail? Forget it.

Why is this of concern to the OIG?

I'm on the side of don't put living people on stamps or name buildings after them.

Just in the past week, Temple University is backpedaling on a Bill Cosby Building.

The four American world chess champions: 1) Paul Morphy (deceased) 19th Century; 2) Bobby Fischer (deceased) 20th Century; 3) Dr. Hans Berliner (correspondence chess) 20th Century; and 4) Dr. Vytas Palciauskas (correspondence chess) 20th Century. Would be a nice subject for a block of 4. I realize the Fischer choice would cause controversy, but you really can't talk about American World Chess Champions without including pre-nut-job Bobby...Chess is a popular topical, and there is no doubt this issue would stir a lot of interest.
John

That's an interesting suggestion. A refreshing change from movie actors or singers or sports figures that are too often the only ones given the "celebrity" status moniker.

Great idea. In a world that seems ever more vulgar, anti-intellectual, and focused on the culture of personality, how about featuring individuals who are notable for their intelligence and intellectual achievement? I don't have specific suggestions, but it would be interesting to look at deceased past Nobel laureates, Macarthur Genius Grant recipients, Rhodes scholars, etc. I daresay that the children and tweens who see images of those are far more likely to write letters and use the stamps than those assaulted with a Katy Perry stamp.

Here's what I submitted...

Definitely highlight special events... New Horizons visiting Pluto Summer of 2015. Could have a neat issue like the large Mars sheet a few years back. Reprint the 1869 series 1 cent through 90 cent. It is one of the only classic commemoratives that have not been reprinted yet (Except for the 90 cent.) Dog and cat stamps always sell well, but there are only so many of those you can do. Rudolf is a good step. Charlie Brown Christmas could be next. Could also issue Charlie Brown Halloween for October Stamp Collecting month. Celebrities? Hard to say. NFL stamps would probably sell well, if one could get permission.

Carl Sagan
Bayard Rustin
Greg LaMond

If Norman Borlaug doesn't deserve to be on a stamp, no one does. One of the greatest men in history and one that few people have heard of, Borlaug probably had more positive impact on more people alive in the world today than just about anyone. And 2014 was the 100th anniversary of his birth. The USPS missed that one.

I like the Carl Sagan idea and it could be done in conjunction with the New Horizons mission to Pluto, along with some other space exploration themes. I like the chess champions idea, too. The US has never done a larger series or sheet of 20, etc for American Nobel Prize winners and I think that would be another good way to honor intellectual achievements.

Philipp von Ferrary, Arthur Hind, Maurice Burrus, Alfred Lichtenstein/Louise Boyd Dale (se-tenant)

Bozo the Clown.