End of lick-and-stick stamp era mourned by readers

In a March 3 post, Linn's Stamp News Senior Editor Michael Baadke wrote the lick-and-stick stamp's obituary in light of the U.S. Postal Service's announced plan to discontinue printing U.S. perforated stamps in favor of self-adhesives.

"It's a day that many stamp collectors have dreaded," Baadke wrote, and a number of Linn's Facebook fans agreed. 

Here's what we've heard so far: 

Gregory Schreiber: "Another nail in the philatelic coffin."

Karolen Linderman: "End of an era—:("

Mike Webb: "The USPS stamp program has been garbage since the first Hollywood actor was put on our stamps. Buy the Scott Classic catalogue and collect real postage stamps, used singles or on postally used covers."

Rita Dumaine: "Dread is right."

John Burt Polhamus: "Booooo ..."

Jeff Brandt: "It was a matter of time. This is why I stopped collecting U.S. stamps for the most part many years ago."

John Cokeley Foster: "That means that perforations will also go ... nothing left but die cuts."

Thomas Noblet: "stinks"

Ron Smith: "considering the quality and subject matter of quite a few stamps these days, they're not worth licking in the first place"

David Eeles: "This is not surprising. PO surveys have shown that the vast majority of people who buy and USE stamps prefer self-adhesive stamps. These people, not stamp collectors, are the USPS's primary customers. Unfortunate for those of us who are collectors, but the USPS (like every other business) is driven by it's bottom line."

Mike Webb: "Stamp collecting is alive and well and thriving - IN CHINA?? This ugly stained ill designed stamp is a perfect metaphor for the condition of our hobby in the USA."

Todd Stephan: "it is a shame"

Jeff Brandt: "It was bound to happen. The USPS doesn't really care much for collectors. It pretends to care, but it doesn't. I stopped collecting U.S. back in the 1980s anyway. Every once in a while there will be a sheet of U.S. stamps that I want, but overall? Meh."

Jace Stamps: "Collect Canada"

Add your opinion about the end of the lick-and-stick stamp in the comment section below.

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