Are New Stamps Worth USPS' Time and Money?

The new TV icons stamps has columnist Edward O'Keefe of the Washington Post wondering," Should the Postal Service devote so much time and money to postage stamps -- especially ones that commemorate 50-year-old TV shows -- at a time when it's losing billions of dollars?"

David Failor, the Postal Service's executive director of stamp services is quoted as saying it costs about $40,000 to develop and produce a commemorative stamp. The process includes the development of a commemorative stamp collection, design of the actual stamp and their production and distribution. Though the Postal Service does not pay license fees for the images of a character or famous person, it does pay $5,000 to various artists that design and paint the stamp's image.

According to Failor the stamps generate between $250 million and $300 million for the Postal Service.

O'Keefe says that's a respectable sum but not nearly enough to make up for the billions of dollars in lost revenue the Postal Service is currently experiencing

Failor points out, "Still, the stamp program generates a priceless amount of free press and fuel the interests of a couple million 'hardcore' stamp collectors and another 10 million to 20 million stamp 'accumulators' that might collect stamps related to a certain genre."

To read the entire column and comments, click here.