Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Place Stamp Here

Thanks to the US Postal Service, I’m doing my best to stamp out boring direct mail envelopes. And it doesn’t even cost more.

Every so often I send a direct mail package to promote my own services. Nothing fancy – pretty much just a letter and a flyer. The quantities aren’t huge (maybe 100 or 200 at a time) so to keep things simple, I just put stamps on the envelopes.

But instead of using whatever standard stamps the Postal Service sells, I use commemorative stamps. Why not? They don’t cost anything more than a regular stamp and they really add a touch of excitement to the envelope.

Compare these two stamps:

The one on the right is a standard stamp. The one on the left is a commemorative stamp. It’s not hard to see why one gets a lot more notice than the other.

That Snoopy stamp was one of the first one stamps I used for this purpose. (Wow, postage has gone up a lot in only 7 years – 23%!) That mailing brought some great results, so I just kept using that stamp until it went off sale.

Since then, I’ve used a variety of commemorative issues for an added dash of flair. I don’t try to tie the theme of the stamp into the concept of the mailing, but I like using a stamp that’s interesting, colorful, or even exotic. And I’ll sometimes get favorable comments.

Here are some of the stamps I’ve used over the years.

Comic superheroes:

Classic children’s book characters:

And you sure can’t go wrong with kittens and puppies:

Here are some new stamps USPS says it will issue over the coming year.

The theme of this set (pollination) doesn’t seem clear, but I like this set because it’s colorful:

These scientists might resonate with the technology crowd, but the design seems overwhelming:

And these movie posters that commemorate Black Cinema look interesting:

Bear in mind that this technique is only useful if you’re willing to put the stamps on by hand. Mailing companies can certainly apply first-class stamps (or even bulk-rate stamps) by machine, but only for stamps that come in coils—limiting you to the standard fare.

And the choice of stamps changes frequently. As the Postal Service releases new issues, old ones are retired. I also find that my local post office isn’t always well stocked for popular issues, but I just order them through usps.gov. At only $1 shipping per order – regardless of order size – that beats standing in line at the post office anyway.

So if you’re looking to make your envelopes more exciting, just select an interesting stamp for an added first-class touch.

Posted by Richard Bloch

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