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Cutbacks at the Postal Service.

The Stamp Collecting Report. I'm Lloyd de Vries.

The U-S Postal Service stamp program is letting go two of its most prolific art 
directors.

Art directors shepherd the development of stamp designs, from choosing the artists 
and artwork to the lettering and even whether a stamp is horizontal or vertical. 
Sometimes they're also the artists.

Both Dick Sheaff and Carl Herrman had long careers with the Postal Service. Sheaff's 
most recent stamp was Take Me Out To The Ball Game, Herrman's, the five Vintage 
Black Cinema stamps issued on the same day last month, as Take Me Out To The Ball 
Game.

The memo obtained by Bill McAllister of Linn's Stamp News also says the U-S-P-S may 
be cutting back on the number of stamps it issues each year...all because of budget 
cuts.

A few days after the memo was revealed, the agency reported it had lost more than a 
billion dollars in the last quarter...largely because of fuel prices and the slowing 
economy.

But the new cycle of rate hikes every spring also shortens the time available for 
issuing new commemorative stamps. There's no sense issuing many stamps before the 
rates change. And few stamps are issued in November or December. So a year's worth 
of stamps are issued in a six-month period.

The U-S is already one of the most prolific stamp-issuing countries. Maybe it IS time 
to cut back.

The problem would be satisfying all the special interests that want a stamp for THEIR 
subject....so cutting the number of issues might not happen.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting, 
and a look at the 2009 U-S stamp program, visit Virtual-Stamp-Club-dot-com.


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