MetaFilter posts tagged with postage

Calvin & Hobbes on a Stamp

jabberjaw — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:59:15 -0800

Calvin & Hobbes will be put on a U.S. postage stamp, honoring "Sunday Funnies," along with Garfield, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, and Archie. Although there has been no end to the homages and unlicensed materials regarding his beloved characters, creator Bill Watterson, "the only cartoonist who resented the popularity of his own strip," has expressed his disapproval of third-party appropriation in detail:

A wordy, multiple-panel strip with extended conversation and developed personalities does not condense to a coffee mug illustration without great violation to the strip's spirit. The subtleties of a multi-dimensional strip are sacrificed for the one-dimensional needs of the product.

Even if Watterson hasn't approved, nothing in the USPS committee's selection criteria requires artist approval. Of course, an obligatory Calvin & Hobbes comic archive, and, it being wintertime and all, an ancient angelfire site. And, previously, Watterson rarities, and other Calvin & Hobbes love.

Postage Stamps of the Yellow Fleet

Fiasco da Gama — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:14:59 -0800

When it went to war with Israel in 1967, the Egyptian Government blockaded the Suez Canal. A number of ships, with their crews, were stranded in the Great Bitter Lake for the eight years it was closed. Here are their stamps.

The International Reply Coupon

Deathalicious — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:06:26 -0800

"When one writes to a stranger and requests a reply, it is considered polite to enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. This works well when both persons live in the same country; however, if they are from different countries, the enclosed postage stamp will not be valid." The solution, introduced in 1906, was the international reply coupon. Like nearly everything else stamps-related, they are collectible. Brought to you by the Universal Postal Union. In the US, for the low price of $2.10 [as of posting date] you can get your hands on one of these beauties, which on the back reads "This coupon is exchangeable in any country of the Universal Postal Union for for the minimum postage for an unregistered priority item or an unregistered letter sent by air to a foreign country." in a variety of languages including Arabic and Chinese (the obverse is entirely in French). Their use, at least in the United States, is relatively rare and this occasionally causes problems when they are needed. Interesting historic side note: they were the inspiration for the first Ponzi scheme.

Pork stamp

ObscureReferenceMan — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:15:17 -0800

Pork flavored stamp. In celebration of the Year of the Pig, China is releasing a stamp that smells (when scratched) and tastes (when licked) of sweet-and-sour pork. I thought this was a pretty innovative idea for a stamp. But it's not new. A few more examples (scroll down to "scratch-and-sniff").

Stamping Out Free Email

digaman — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 11:18:51 -0800

When you really, really want your email to arrive at its destination: now you gotta pay postage. Another brilliant, forward-looking idea for monetizing-the-Internet^TM from the wizards at AOL and Yahoo.

Avertising Cover, Bisect, Cinderella, and so on...

taz — Fri, 17 Sep 2004 07:01:33 -0800

Dear M E F I, I just love Alphabetilately, and I think you will too! Yours sincerely, taz.

Male call

Civil_Disobedient — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 21:43:42 -0800

Man short on funds, mails himself home. Judge not amused, fines him $1,500. More background info here. Robbed of the Darwin Award.

Theme Birds on Stamps

hama7 — Tue, 20 May 2003 06:13:03 -0800

Theme Birds on Stamps listed by country, and more.

plep — Mon, 28 Oct 2002 01:04:09 -0800

The Postage Stamps of Donald Evans (scroll down a paragraph or two) A rich and complex internal world expressed through postage stamp art.
'When Donald Evans (born Morristown, New Jersey USA in 1945) was a boy, he drifted from his hobby of collecting postage stamps to creating his own postage stamps of countries he made up in his imagination ... He left behind an astonishing planet seen through its nations' postage stamps, thousands of them, all drawn to postage-stamp size, with all the familiar periphery of postage stamps hand-done ... '

Danelope — Tue, 16 Jul 2002 01:23:20 -0800

Given up on the TiVo wallpaper design contest? Submit a design to the Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, and Telecommunications' Postage Stamp Design Contest. This year's theme is "Peace". Eight winning designs from anywhere in the world will be chosen, and the grand prizes of up to 200,000 Yen (~$1700 USD) awarded to their creators. Check out some of the previous years' winners for inspiration.

tranquileye — Wed, 24 Oct 2001 09:36:31 -0800

With the FBI advising how to handle suspicious mail [pdf], the fine people who send you junk snail mail are changing their methods. The Canadian and American Direct Marketing Associations are recommending that their members ''consider notifying consumers by phone or e-mail that a direct-mail piece is on its way so they are not alarmed when it arrives." One cancelled campaign involved mailing marbles to some prospective clients.

sandor — Fri, 05 Jan 2001 08:57:05 -0800

Public Service Announcement: starting Sunday, first-class postage goes up a penny. So if you've got a pile of 33-cent stamps leftover from holiday card season, either use 'em up now, or stock up on 1-cent stamps.