This is just too funny not to mention.
There is an unspoken crisis of astronomical proportions going on in this country, one that is being carefully hidden and it may be a sign of the impending Apocalypse or at least some nefarious plot.
There is a critical shortage of $0.24 cent postcard stamps in the United States.
It's true. My wife went to the post office today to buy postcard stamps to mail her Valentine's Day postcard to advertise her Spa and was told there was not a postcard stamp to be had in Boise, Idaho because there is a nationwide shortage of postcard stamps.
My wife said she thought this was some sort of Allen Funt or Punk'd moment. She smiled and politely waited . . . the postal clerk reassured her that she was dead serious.
She then called all the surrounding post offices and no luck. She said that "might" be able to have some overnighted in, but she didn't know if she could get enough for her mailing.
Now, there are obviously a few ways around this, one is to meter the postcard, but it had already been set up and printed to take a live stamp, which my wife always uses. The other option, to print out postage from www.usps.com, but that same problem exists, covering up part of the sales message.
When she called me I sat in stunned silence for a moment, but then, I realized I was not at all surprised. Why would the United States government be sure to do any analysis to see how many postcard stamps had been used before and print an appropriate amount. I'm sure that the logic was that people could just buy the old $0.23 cent stamps and put a $0.01 cent stamp with it. But in addition to the aforementioned problem of covering up part of your sales message there is another more pressing problem.
There is also a shortage of $0.01 cent stamps.
I have to wonder if anyone has alerted President Bush or sprung his father and Bill Clinton into action? Louis Fericon should be outraged and mount a march. For that matter has anyone asked "What would Scooby Do?"
This is actually very laughable and not at all surprising considering the amount of forethought government agencies put into changes.
It would be too much to ask for to have the government do the right thing if they can't provide you with their "product," and allow you to use the old stamps minus the nearly extinct $0.01 cent stamp. I know, it would cause chaos rivaled only by filling your mouth with pop rocks and washing them down with Coca-Cola (Mythbusters evidence to the contrary aside).
Alas, my wife was able to solve her dilemma by imprinting postage on the cards even though it did make them somewhat unattractive when the imprint covered some of the printing. Ultimately it wasn't an advertising piece killer, but we'll be watching the response rate closely.
I simply felt it was my moral and patriotic obligation to let you know of this crisis so you can avert disaster by NOT designing mailing pieces that require $0.24 stamps until mid-March, when, we've been assured that the crisis should resolve itself.
So sayeth the Postmaster.
And you know he won't get THAT wrong.
P.S. I checked the USPS website and there was no mention of this crisis that I could find. But, a quick call around to several post offices nationwide with a request for 2500 postcard stamps netted similar responses to the one in Boise.
