Comments Opinions & Help About A USPS Sponsored Stamp Program.

In 1997 the USPS initiated a program in conjunction with an annual bicycle ride I participated in. The week long ride has traveled a different route across the state of Iowa USA each year averaging 500 miles for 51 years. For riders who choose to participate a USPS book they called a passport was issued that had a short note about each town the ride passed through that had a post office & a space for a stamp. Each passport had about 40 town entries. As the ride passed through a town that had a post office the rider would purchase a stamp of their choice to affix in the book & get a special postmark that was available only at that postoffice on that day. Riders could also send mail with that postmark. Silly me I didn't do that. At the end of the day the special postmark was destroyed. In the first year all post offices used the same design cancel except the town name was different. The second year some towns designed their own unique postmark & some participants started getting the postmaster to sign the book. In year three and future each post office designed its own unique postmark that was still available only on the day the ride passed through that town and was destroyed. The book could be postmarked in the next layover town but with a generic postmark that was obviously not acquired at the towns postoffice. Since the rider was free to select the stamp for each town every passport was likely different. This program contained through 2001 with a break in 2002 then a final one in 2003. A lapel pin was given in two of the year's to participants who actually stopped at every post office. I assume the pins were likely available to the public from USPS. I have no idea how many participated in the program. This program was 100% approved, sponsored and sanctioned by the USPS including the unique postmarks.

I realize that these stamps were never actually sent through the mail but since it was an activity sanctioned by the USPS I would think they would fit somewhere in the philatelic realm.

I have searched occasionally over the years for information about these passports but have never received any feedback of any kind nor any speculation relative to value if any. I may have ask on this forum long ago but I didn't see anything in my history. Nothing has shown up in searches and have never seen one for sale. Since it was a USPS sanctioned event I have to believe that there would be interest somewhere in the specialty collectors arena considering the one of a kind postmarks. I have the full set that I personally completed while I participated in the ride except the last one that my son completed for me due to being ill.

Is there anyone that knows anything about interest & maybe value?? I would love to be able to have information to pass on to whoever ends up inheriting my collection so they can focus on getting them to someone with interest. Maybe the name of a postmark club. I peddled my ass off to get them I want to be sure they don't get lost. Lol

There may be information in bicycling forums. Road (your example) and mountain biking are all very popular. There is even a Mountain Bike Museum here in ground zero of the mountain biking movement in the USA.

In your searches you may have noticed a similar pass port book for the US National parks, monuments, etc.

The bloom on USPS cycling support died with the doping reveal.

Or a bicycle topical collector could be located in the ATA, American Topical Association.

The cancellations aren't technically postmarks, so I'd expect collectors of cycling memorabilia to be more interested than philatelists. On the other hand, the signatures of postmasters might interest students of postal history.

The only commercial suggestion I can make is the obvious one: print out a version of your post (incorporating any useful suggestions, such as Parcelpostguy's) to keep with your collection in order to assist your heirs.

But the commercial value can only be a tiny fraction of the sentimental value!

They are the postmarks (cancellations) that were used at that particular post office for mail processed that day. So they are official postmarks but in a book not on a letter that was mailed.

So would my post have been better placed in the topical forum??

You posted where you posted and have gotten interesting responses. The issue, if one, is this is about things other that particular stamps, as the event(s) did not require certain issues. From what you've shown, if looking for a topical topic, baseball or baseball players is it.

The where this is best posted is not something for you to worry about. That is a headache the Moderators get to earn their volunteer salary solving.

You might try some state or even local historical societies to see if they would be interested in your material.

To back up a step or two, the majority of pictorial postmarks are originated by event organizers who create the artwork and submit it to the USPS for approval at a regional level (i.e., fairly low) for approval and production. Copies were often sent up the chain to be included in the "Postal Bulletin", but many never appeared there in print. The particulars for deadlines and size of the pictorial cancels and published by the USPS. The USPS would not typically initiate the process, but only be a cooperating participant. Note the highest USPS level of signature on the passport is a "district manager".

That said, many of the Ragbrai postmarks are illustrated on the varous editions of the Postal Bulletins. I see one issue each year for 13 years between 1994-2015, and many years without any showing.
http://www.uspostalbulletins.com/pd...&id=48#y2000

The point being that the primary repository for the deep background on the cancel design and the other peripherals will likely be with the event organizer, rather than the USPS. I would seek information with the bicycle club and local newspaper articles announcing each year's event. I suspect it got some publicity for the first year of the passport and note one of the 2000 co-chairs is affiliated with the Des Moines Register. I would see more interest in this type of item by cyclers than philatelists.

Thanks. I would have never guessed there wasn't any stamp related association. I'll look elsewhere.

There is stamp related use displayed here,. as every stamp used in the passport and tied is used to commemorate an event but not one associated with the stamps themselves. It is also a record of the cancellation(s) approved. Mainstream postal history would be the cancels used on items which entered the mail stream for delivery. While the passports are postal history, they are far far away from mainstream more of an ephemeral trickle far up the side canyon.

That said, I tell this story periodically. I bid on a parcel post stamped real photo post card, I get bumped and bumped again. Now we are talking well beyond catalog (Cat is under $10 so well beyond is still under $15). I valued each part that could add value, including the special fairy dust on it and placed my final bid. That bid did not even get me a high bid. So I wanted to learn if I was having an acid trip. Up it went, and up some more reaching close to $100. After it sold I asked the seller did he have any idea why it sold so well? The town in which the real photo was take has first, few real photos;and second there are several post card collectors chasing the town. He thought it would have gone a bit higher. It had stamps and I was thinking like a postal history collector, but I was blind to the true interest value.