The Library Phantasmagoria

Interesting Things on the USPS Store

Added:
By Ariel

The United States Postal Service has an online store that you can use to order shipping materials like boxes and envelopes. I decided to have a look around to see what other interesting things they might have.

The store is divided into several sections: stamps, supplies, cards/envelopes, collectors, gifts, and business supplies. I'll progress through them in that order.

Stamps

The stamps tab has exactly what you'd expect: stamps. I never quite understood the idea of stamp collecting, but I think I can see the appeal when I have a bunch of different styles/designs in front of me at once.

Some stamp packs come as the same image for every stamp, such as the Virgin and Child stamps. Others, such as Snow Beauty stamps, will have several designs around one theme.

I'm a big fan of these $5 stamps and $2 stamps with "floral geometry" patterns. They remind me of Myst's world of D'ni.

Even more interesting are these circular stamps for global postage. It never occurred to me that international postage would require a different kind of stamp.

By the way, if you're a hardcore mailer, you may be interested in these subscriptions for either a 20-stamp book or a 100-stamp roll delivered to you once or twice monthly. If postcards are more your style, they have specialty stamp subscriptions for that too.

Supplies

The supplies sections is mostly boxes, standard envelopes, and forms. Some items of interest: a box specifically for CDs/DVDs and a roll of 100 "Cremated Remains" labels.

Cards and Envelopes

The title of this section is partially misleading. Several of the items on the first page were Field Notes notebooks with stamp designs. There are also envelopes pre-stamped with ducks or the US flag.

Most of the cards look like something you'd see from Hallmark or at a CVS. Your standard "thank you"s and geometric designs. This isn't a knock against the USPS for having them - they're perfectly nice designs and can be used in many situations. They just aren't noteworthy.

Collectors

Here we dive back into the interesting items. First off is USA Philatelic, the "official source of current stamps and stamp products from the U.S. Postal Service". You can download it or get free copies delivered to your home.

The 2021 stamp yearbook contains "exclusive sketches, design explorations, and reference materials from the stamp creation process". In other words, an art book for stamps! Pretty cool! I'd consider buying it. If you want the actual stamps, they're sold separately but come with protective mounts.

If you're a real collector, maybe there's extra value in these first day of issue postmarked stamps?

If you really like stamps, perhaps display your favourites as a stamp pin instead.

Gifts

At last, we reach the most interesting section and the inspiration to write this: the gifts section. Here you have:

Conclusion

I find it interesting to take a peek at online stores for governments and non-profits. Sometimes you find something interesting.