USPS Announces Star Wars Stamp Set

morpheus83 writes "After R2D2 letter boxes, the USPS continues the saga, as it unveiled 15 new stamps featuring Star Wars characters at Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood where the original Star Wars movie opened 30 years ago. The 41 cent stamps will be released on May 25, and all the 15 stamps will be issued on a single sheet resembling a movie poster."

Stamp Images

[cmcguffin]

Here's a link to images of the stamps [uspsjedimaster.com] themselves.

Re:No reason?

[mstahl]

Absolutely. Ever wonder why dollar coins are perpetually in short supply? It's because the U.S. government effectively makes money when people hoard them and thus take them out of circulation. Same deal with the quarters with the states on them. People started collecting them, and for each person with a full set, that was $12.50 the treasury department was no longer responsible for in a way.

The Post Office can pull the same trick with people who collect stamps. It's in their best interest to offer up stamps that people will want to acquire and keep.

Re:Actors Are Still Alive

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm, the poster very clearly referred to the actors still being alive. Maybe you should head back to grade school and work on your reading compression skills.

But anyway, these stamps also appear to break rule #6 at http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/cs ac.htm [usps.com] -- "Stamps or stationery shall not be issued to promote or advertise commercial enterprises or products".

Learn something new every day.

[artifex2004]

On the dot, today, I learned that rates are going up [usps.com] for mail.

Re:I haven't done any research on it...

[SkyDude]

But I'd be interested to find out who is funding this. 100% of the production cost, distribution, etc. should be borne by Lucas.

The USPS is paying for the entire promo, because the USPS is a business, not a government agency. It's been a business for a number of years. It's just not the typical private sector business.

Having been involved in the logistics field for a number of years, I know from personal experience that the USPS marketing department has one of the biggest budgets in the transportation industry. When I attended various trade conferences, the biggest and best parties (or receptions as they are often called) were always sponsored by the USPS. And there were often some real nice giveaways too - windbreaker jackets, top notch dinners and other really nice amenities. They do it because they are big and generate lots of money.

They're a monopoly, and should not be allowed to advertise at all. No commercials, no ads, fund from the stamps and add some value.

Well, no they're not. Years ago, sending an overnight letter via Fedex or UPS required the mailer to add first class postage, even though the Postal Service would never touch the thing. That was a ruling by the Supreme Court, if memory serves, due to the Constitutional beginnings of the Post Office. The requirement was done away with years ago, the Post Office became The US Postal Service and they are mandated to be profitable. And they are.

As someone who regularly shipped thousands of parcels via the USPS each month, if you believe it takes two weeks to go from Omaha to Denver, then you haven't mailed a parcel in a long time. The Postal Service is competitive with UPS and Fedex in nearly every category. The pay scales are competitive with the private companies and they don't charge as much, because they have what the private companies don't have - volume. UPS, Fedex and DHL can only wish they handled as many parcels and letters as the USPS.