outline:
Aug 21 article on personalized postage
tested it out on Aug 22 for some of my own photographs
[NOTE: first stamp to be surprise for 40th anniversary of our wedding, Aug.29]
what will this fine new idea do to philately?
end of uniquity, and of P.O. control of images
effects on catalogues, prices and values?
and on jobs of stamp-designers (Ada) - (wondered how that could be a full-time job!)
what if realization strikes and PO recalls permission to Stamps.com?
sudden increase of value of the more than 2000 existing, legal issues
(including mine?)
reminds me of "Holland behind bars" story . .
cost/value issue of paying Stamps.com $ 16.99 for 20 stamps of 37c each,
or 85 cents each, representing a profit of about 230%
but how about PO itself, letter used to go for 3 cents as late as 1958,
now as high as 37 cents! See history of US postal rates.
How does that compare with rate of inflation?
answer: depending on which of 5 methods used,
37 cents in 2003 were equivalent to a range from 2 to 7 cents in 1958
and what about deterioration in service?
see The Last Dinosaur: US Postal Service, 1985;
median annual salaries in 2002 were $ 38,150 for sorters, $ 39,530 for carriers and $ 39,700 for clerks
+ very generous benefits;
Just to-day surprised to
find that even at PO, mailboxes are not emptied on Sundays -
and to make matters worth, on Sat the last is as early as 2:30 p.m. (check out!) compare that with old London, where one had 3 or 4 mail deliveries a day,so a man could invite a guest for tea by mailing a letter first thing in the morning, even getting a reply by early p.m. delivery...
in the USA, twice-a-day delivery to residences was abolished in 1950
small wonder, and PO's proper punishment, that more people now use Email:
faster and cheaper!
NOTE added January 14, 2006: For a while, this "service" was discontinued, but it reappeared like Phoenix rising out of its ashes: proof: to see my December, 2005 order, click here
BLO fecit 200408230210 - stories - History of U.S. Post - The Last Dinosaur: US Postal Service, 1985
