U.S. Semipostal Stamps

HEROES STAMP OF 2001

The first day of issue for the Nation’s second semipostal stamp, the Heroes of 2001 semipostal stamp (Scott B2), was June 7, 2002. The Heroes semipostal was sold for $0.45 with a postage value of $0.34 and a tax-deductible contribution amount of $0.11. When the first class postage rate was raised to $0.37 on June 30, the contribution amount was reduced to $0.08. The self-adhesive, tagged, serpentine die cut 11¼ stamp was designed by Derry Noyes and photographed by Thomas E. Franklin. Ashton Potter printed 205 million stamps using the offset process in sheets of 120 and panes of 20. The stamp was withdrawn from sale at close of business on December 31, 2004. During its sale period, 132.9 million stamps were sold and about $10.6 million was transferred to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for distribution to the affected families.

SAVE VANISHING SPECIES SEMIPOSTAL

On September 30, 2011 at a zoo in Louisville, Kentucky, the Postal Service issued the nondenominated first class mail Save Vanishing Species semipostal stamp, priced at $0.55 with $0.44 paying for first class postage and $0.11 comprising the tax deductible contribution. The tagged, serpentine die cut 10¾, pressure-sensitive adhesive stamp which features an illustration of an Amur tiger cub was designed by Derry Noyes and its artist was Nancy Stahl (Scott B4). Silhouettes of each animal represented by the fund appear at the bottom of the stamp pane. Avery Dennison printed 100 million stamps using the gravure process with 160 stamps per sheet and 20 stamps per pane. As first class postage rates increased to $0.45 and then $0.46, the contribution amount decreased accordingly.



Sale of the stamp was discontinued on January 1, 2014 as the statutory authority had expired. However, the Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2013, enacted September 19, 2014, amended the availability period to “at least six years.” The October 16, 2014 Postal Bulletin announced the resumption of sale with the stamp selling for $0.60; $0.49 paying the first class rate and a contribution amount of $0.11. That Bulletin also noted the Postal Service intention to continue sale through December, 2018. As of April, 2017, over 36 million stamps have been sold and their sale has raised over $4 million to help protect threatened and vanishing species.

USPS DISCRETIONARY AUTHORITY AND THE ALZHEIMER’S SEMIPOSTAL

The Semipostal Authorization Act, enacted in 2000, gave the USPS broad authority to issue and sell semipostal stamps for causes it considered to be “in the national public interest and appropriate.” Funds raised through the sale of these discretionary issues were only to go to federal agencies supporting their respective causes. The discretionary authority to issue semipostal stamps was to expire 10 years after issuance of the first stamp but the USPS has yet to issue a stamp under this authority.

The USPS revised its semipostal regulations to remove a self-imposed restriction to not issue discretionary semipostal stamps until the sales period of the Breast Cancer Research stamp had concluded. The revised regulations also stated that the Postal Service would issue one discretionary semipostal at a time with five in total being sold for no more than two years each. The one-at-a-time limitation does not apply to Congressionally-mandated semipostal stamps. Public proposals for the first of these stamps were due in July 2016.

On November 30, 2017, the U.S. Postal Service issued the first of five semipostal stamps under its discretionary authority. The first stamp issued was an Alzheimer’s Semipostal Stamp, to be followed by a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Semipostal Stamp in 2019. The next three discretionary semipostal stamps have not yet been determined.

The artwork on the stamp is an illustration that first appeared on the 2008 42-cent Alzheimer’s Awareness stamp. It shows an older woman in profile with a caring hand on her shoulder with the suggestion of sunlight behind her and clouds in front of and below her. On the 2008 stamp, she was facing left; the artwork for this stamp shows her facing right to help differentiate between the two stamps. Stamp artist Matt Mahurin created the stamp with the direction of art director Ethel Kessler. Net proceeds from the Alzheimer’s semipostal will be distributed to DHHS to support research.

I can't say with any certainty but I imagine that none of the Congresses prior to the 105th felt there was a need for such a fundraising vehicle. It wasn't until Dr. Bodai convinced Representative Fazio of the idea's merit with regard to supporting breast cancer research that it began to gain traction in the House.

For those who may be interested, these posts are an abbreviated version of the article beginning on page 5 of the August-September 2017 newsletter.

Putting things away after the holidays today, I found a box full of notecards sold by USPS specifically for this issue, which I have never used and had forgotten that I had.


Front of the Box


Back of the Box