Monday Morning Brief | Upcoming United States stamps

Linn’s Stamp News editor Michael Baadke reports on stamps being issued by the U.S. Postal Service late in the year, including a surprise announcement of a joint issue between the United States and Canada.

Full Video Transcript:

This is your Monday Morning Brief for October 23, 2017.

The United States Postal Service normally puts stamp issuing on hold after the new Christmas stamps appear in October, but this year is a little different.

An unexpected delay in scheduling resulted in the forever stamp for the National Museum of African American History and Culture being issued October 13, more than a week after the Christmas Carols forever stamps were issued in New York City.

Another surprise came October 5, when the U.S. Postal Service and Canada Post announced that they would share a joint issue on October 20 to celebrate the history of ice hockey, with matching individual stamps and souvenir sheets planned for both nations.

Two designs were prepared showing a modern-day hockey player on one stamp, and a player wearing vintage garb and old-fashioned gear on another, positioned on the pane to look like a mirror image.

The first-day ceremony last Friday was expected to include participation by U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan, and Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra.

Even before the Hockey set was announced, the U.S. Postal Service revealed that it also will issue a new semipostal stamp in November.

U.S. semipostal stamps are valid for letter mail, but they also collect money for a designated cause. The first U.S. semipostal in 1998 raised money to help breast cancer research, and a stamp for that cause is still available from the Postal Service today.

The new stamp will benefit research to fight Alzheimer’s Disease.

The stamps cost a little more — 60¢ instead of 49¢ — and the extra money makes up the donation.

The Postal Service is not saying exactly where or when the stamp will be issued, and it hasn’t revealed the design yet either. But it did say the design was illustrated by Matt Mahurin.

Mahurin is the artist who created the design for the 42¢ Alzheimer’s Awareness stamp issued by the Postal Service in 2008.

It’s possible the Postal Service could reuse the 2008 design on the 2017 stamp, but nothing about the design is known for certain at this point.

This is the first semipostal in what is called the Postal Service’s semipostal discretionary program. A new stamp will be issued every two years, for a total of five stamps over the next 10 years.

A stamp that addresses Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, will be issued in 2019. The subjects for the later semipostals will be determined after a review of public suggestions.

If the U.S. Congress and the president sign off on their own semipostal stamp suggestions, those could be sold in post offices at the same time as the stamps from the USPS discretionary program.

You can keep up with the latest stamp news by liking Linn’s Stamp News on Facebook, and following Linn’s on Twitter.

For Linn’s Stamp News and the Scott catalogs, I’m Michael Baadke.