The Emporia Gazette

May 27, 2012

• Headlines
• Sports
• Forums
• Weather
• Classifieds

• Help
• Log in
• Home

• E-mail story
• Post a comment
• iPod friendly version

One stamp, until death do you part?

The U.S. Postal Service will likely soon offer the “forever stamp.”

A forever stamp will always sell at the going rate of first-class postage. So, in theory at least, if you purchase a lifetime’s worth of forever stamps, you will be able to dodge postal rate increases for decades to come.

And some economically-minded folks will stock up on them.

Perhaps the Postal Service will offer several designs for the forever stamps. Still, if you purchase hundreds of them in one fell swoop, then you will have to live with those few stamp designs for, well, forever.

Or so it will seem.

But a fun part of mailing letters and bills is having an ever-changing supply of stamps.

I like it when the Emporia postal clerks pull books and sheets of stamps from the drawer and ask, “Which ones would you like?”

Stamps are not just a utilitarian item, something to get a letter from point A to point B. U.S. stamps commemorate leaders and champions, they document our history. Our own William Allen White was honored on a 3-cent stamp issued in 1948.

Flag stamps are a given, but stamps also celebrate art and literature, sports, wildlife, plants, and geography. Something new is always available. According to the U.S.P.S. Website, about 20 stamps are scheduled for release in 2007.

My favorite stamp series of all time was “Cloudscapes,” issued in 2004. It included photos of 15 types of clouds. I used the cheery-cloud sky stamps for personal letters and cards and saved the gloomy-cloud stamps for paying bills.

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were part of a DC Comics Super Hero series issued in 2006. These vivid stamps added a punch to an ordinary white envelope.

Currently, in my desk drawer is what remains of a 40-piece set, “Wonders of America: Land of Superlatives” which pays tribute to such things as our largest rodent (the American beaver), the country’s windiest place (Mount Washington), and our tallest cactus (saguaro).

When I was about 7 or 8, my dad introduced my brother and me to stamp collecting. Leon and I were the only kids in the Cheyenne Stamp Club which met on Sunday afternoons in Great Bend.

To start me out, Dad let me sort through packs of loose stamps that he had. I sat on the living room floor and studied them one at a time.

The other day, I searched the Internet for images of those old stamps that I once pawed through. The one that immediately took me back to the past was the pinkish-purple profile of Abraham Lincoln issued in 1954. It was the workhorse stamp from 1958 (when first-class rates jumped to 4 cents) through 1963.

I also found an image of the first stamp that I bought with my own money at the Pawnee Rock Post Office, an 8-cent airmail stamp recognizing the Alaska Purchase.

To add to my childhood collection, I tore off the stamps from envelopes that came in the mail, soaking those scraps of paper in a bowl of warm water to loosen the glue. After the stamps dried, I flattened them between the pages of a dictionary.

Things have changed since I filled my childhood stamp books. Today’s stamps are slick and shiny, without the texture, the paper-feel of the old variety. I miss the tactile nature of actually tearing a stamp from the book, but I am glad we don’t have to lick stamps anymore.

Forever stamps are a great option, a way to lock in postal rates. And when rates do increase, these stamps will simplify the transition.

I’ll buy a few now and then, but when it comes to postage, I’m a trendy girl — I’m always looking for the next new design.

• “Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net. Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.