USPS Stamp Services Director Lisa Bobb-Semple and Smithsonian National Postal Museum Curator of Philately Daniel Piazza join us to discuss the USPS stamp program and the new stamps for 2025. They share a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating these miniature masterpieces, the history of the stamp program, and how stamps will play a role in celebrating the Postal Service’s 250th anniversary.
We’re taking a deep dive into the exciting world of 2025 USPS stamps! Join special guests Lisa Bobb-Semple, USPS Stamp Services Director, and Daniel Piazza, Curator of Philately at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, as we explore how new stamps are selected, the artistry behind them, and what it takes to bring them to life. Plus, with the Postal Service’s 250th anniversary on the horizon, we’ll discuss how stamps will play a role in celebrating this historic milestone. Don’t miss this fascinating conversation about history, design, and the stories behind the stamps in your collection!
Karla Kirby:
Hello and welcome to Mailin’ It, the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm Karla Kirby.
Jonathan Castillo:
And I'm Jonathan Castillo. Well, we're now full steam ahead into 2025, which means depending on where you are, you can already start buying some of the new stamp designs we announced in November last year. The snake stamps have been available in Boston since the middle of January, for example. And our new love stamps have already debuted in Kutztown Pennsylvania. Of course, those are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what's in store for this year.
Karla Kirby:
As with last year's stamps episode, we've once again invited Lisa Bobb-Semple to talk to us about the Postal Services new lineup. Lisa is of course, our stamp services director this year. We've also invited Daniel Piazza, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum's Chief Curator of Philately to join us. Daniel's going to provide some historical perspective for us to help us better understand what makes this year's lineup special. Should be a lot of fun. Welcome to Mailin’ It Daniel, and welcome back, Lisa.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Thank you very much, Karla.
Daniel Piazza:
Thanks for having me.
Jonathan Castillo:
So before we talk about this year's stamps, I wanna share an interesting stamp related tidbit with you all. Did you know that the Postal Service has issued more than 3000 commemorative stamp designs since we started offering commemorative stamps in 1893?
Karla Kirby:
I did not know that, Jonathan.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
I sorta know that. But did you know that the stamps are kept in a cave in Kansas City and in the evenings you can actually hear explosives going on as they expand the space in the cave?
Karla Kirby:
I didn't know that either.
Daniel Piazza:
Well, I actually kind of did know that. Yes,
Jonathan Castillo:
I had a feeling that, that you absolutely would know that Daniel, and of course, the purpose of commemorative stamps is to celebrate American culture and history. They're also very popular with customers and an important source of revenue for the Postal Service. Daniel, do you have a favorite that you can tell us about?
Daniel Piazza:
Yeah, I remember very vividly a sheet of stamps that came out in, I think it was in 2016, for the centennial of the national Parks with photography stamps of different sizes featuring all different parks from around the country, different landscapes and flowers and, and things like that with an inspirational quote in the middle. It's just a very beautiful unified set of stamps celebrating the national parks.
Karla Kirby:
So, Lisa, how about you? Do you have a favorite commemorative stamp?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Oh, Karla, you're not gonna get me there. I get that asked that question all the time. And I keep saying picking a favorite stamp is like picking a favorite child, you know? So I typically like to say that I love all my children. I love all my stamps the same. I do love the fun ones, though, if I had to choose one, because I think they just, you know, are so exciting and different though.
Jonathan Castillo:
I love it. And Lisa, as a way of introducing, or maybe in some cases, reintroducing yourself to our audience, tell us a little bit about what you and your team at Stamp Services do.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
So I'm responsible for all oversight of stamps from beginning to end. So really from working with CSAC on the ideas that we get from the public and determining what stamp subjects with CSAC will actually become an actual stamp through the design of the stamp. And then I have a team in Kansas City that's responsible for the production of the stamp. So I oversee that, and then all the way through the fulfillment of the stamp fulfillment, both to the post office as well as to customers. And we also develop stamp inspired products philatelic products off of those stamps. So I also oversee that process as well too. We have two different locations where we actually fulfill the stamps. One in Kansas City, like I said, and also one in Dulles, which most people don't typically know about. And as I said earlier, SFS is actually in a limestone cave because that's the optimal location for where the stamp should be located.
Jonathan Castillo:
And can you remind us one more time, what is you mentioned, you know, CSAC, what is it?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Oh, yes, sorry. CSAC is the Citizen Stamps Advisory Committee. So it's a committee appointed by the Postmaster General. They're up to 15 people that can be on the committee, and they all come with different backgrounds, different strengths. So think of somebody who is an expert in sports, somebody who's an expert in history in art design. So we really try to have a mixture of individuals to make up the America, essentially. And that committee is the committee responsible for actually voting on the stamps and determining what stamp suggestions would actually become actual stamps.
Karla Kirby:
So Lisa, of course, thank you for coming back and reminding us about the CSAC and its importance in the establishment of these different commemorative stamps. And Daniel, it's good to have you on the podcast. You've been the postal Museum's chief stamps curator since 2014. Tell us a little bit about what that entails.
Daniel Piazza:
Sure. Thank you for inviting me on. I've been a stamp collector since childhood, and I've been with the postal museum for the past 18 years. I'm responsible for exhibitions and research and acquisitions related to the museum's collection of 6 million postage stamps and, and postal artifacts. The museum's collection and exhibitions focus primarily on US stamps and history, but we have a worldwide collection. And a goal of the museum's exhibition program in particular is to broaden the appeal of stamps beyond stamp collectors. And so we like to think of ourselves really as a history museum whose medium just happens to be stamps and postal history.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
And if you haven't gone to the Postal museum, it is so cool.
Jonathan Castillo:
And to that point, I know that there's some really cool stamps that are coming out this year. I'm thinking about designs like that are honoring actress Betty White, the latest in our Black Heritage Series and the start of the American Revolution. But before we dive into those, Lisa, can you briefly take us through the process of choosing these stamp designs for a given year?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Sure. So we get thousands of stamp suggestions from the public each year, and we really wanna commemorate the stamps that really represent the best of America, our culture, our history, and our achievements. So we get all these ideas, and every quarter we meet with CSAC and review those stamp suggestions. And CSAC actually looks at those suggestions and determines which stamps or which suggestions would really be worthy of becoming a stamp. And they really try to make sure that we also have representation across various aspects, like fun stamp, a history stamp, a science stamp, so that the program has a stamp that's really for everyone. They look at the pros and cons of that particular stamp subject. They're actually debating it, really thinking through like why that particular stamp is worthy. And then they actually vote on the stamp. Once they vote on the stamp. Then we then list that as a stamp under consideration, and then we go from there.
Karla Kirby:
So is there a, a ballot process that goes along with deciding the stamps?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Yeah, so we typically vote is typically an anonymous voting process. So that you can’t see who voted for a stamp in case you had one of your favorite stamps in there. You don't get upset. And then the winner must have 50% of the vote to actually become a stamp that we would then put into development.
Karla Kirby:
So it's my understanding that the process for choosing and commissioning the new stamps didn't always work this way. So, Daniel, what was it like before the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee also referred to as the CSAC?
Daniel Piazza:
Well, before CSAC was created in 1957, the process was extremely political. It generally involved congressional delegations pressuring the post, the then post office department to issue stamps connected either to their state or certain industries in their state or events. And so the, the stamp program became somewhat lopsided in that regard. And the idea of bringing in the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee in the 1950s was to help balance out the program. And, and I think also to move it away from being geographically based and, and politically based to, to broadening out cultural representation.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
If I could add too, I think that's the great thing about CSAC as well, because you have representation from across different, you know, segments if you will. Then each person sees that can bring in their expertise. Right. And talk about the pros and cons of that particular stamp subject.
Jonathan Castillo:
No, it certainly sounds like the, the process is a lot more democratic now. Mm-Hmm
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Sure. So we essentially the stamp subject is voted in, right? And then when a stamp year comes up, if you will, then CSAC is looking at all of those stamps stamp subjects that are under consideration and voting for that stamp to be in a particular year. It's really important, like I mentioned before, that we have stamps across different categories. So that essentially there's a stamp for everybody. So you wanna have a history stamp, a fun stamp, a, they may be a special, you know, anniversary celebration. So they're really looking at the overall program to make sure that we have stamps across different representation. And then we then assign that stamp subject to an art director, and the art directors work with various professional designers or artists, illustrators, to really bring essentially that stamp topic to life. Once we have the art determined for that stamp, then it goes through a really rigorous, lengthy rights legal process. That's probably one of the things that surprised me most, is that we really do a lot of legal review and process to make sure that that stamp is really can meet the test, if you will. Once that's approved and we have all the legal the legal piece cleared, then I take the stamps to the PMG, he or her, the PMG has the ultimate decider of that stamp. And then once the PMG approves the stamps, then my stamp production team works with the printers to print the stamps. Once they're printed, they're actually trucked and stored at both SFS in Kansas City and Dulles. And that's where the stamps are then distributed from. We also develop, like I mentioned, stamp inspired products. So we think about programs, note cards, bookmarks as well to commemorate that stamp addition that's coming out. We really try to think about both the philatelists and the general audience as we're putting together stamps and products so that we're appealing to a wider audience of individuals.
Karla Kirby:
So the idea of appealing to both stamp collectors and non collectors is something you touched on earlier, Daniel when talking about the postal museum, why is it so important to reach both of these audiences?
Daniel Piazza:
I think that both of these audiences are interested in the stamp program, perhaps for different reasons. Stamp collectors generally, like the historical topics and those themes where maybe more general stamp enthusiasts, you know, are looking for the, for the program to be relevant to more contemporary culture to promote aspects of contemporary culture. And so having a balance of those topics, you know, I think is really good. But whether it's, whether it's an aspect of historical or contemporary culture, what the stamp does is really, as Lisa has described it, the whole process of designing it is very intentional and focuses attention on a subject that, that people might otherwise not have thought about - spark and inspire them to learn more about it. In the same way that an object in a museum like the Smithsonian focuses attention and gets people curious and asking questions about it. I think when an image appears on a postage stamp, it, it does the same thing in the, in the broader culture.
Jonathan Castillo:
Can you think of like one or two, maybe examples like where, you know, really stand out to you that did, that kind of sparked that public interest in that way?
Daniel Piazza:
Where the Postal Service has gone with the Black Heritage Series, which we'll talk about in a few minutes, really embodies that the success of the series in the eighties and nineties really led to broader representation of African Americans throughout the general stamp program. And so the Black Heritage Series started to focus its attention more on people who weren't as well known but should be and recognized. And so, and so, when, when a stamp comes out honoring someone and, and a customer patron, the media whomever says, well, who is that? You know, it it sparks that sort of interest.
Jonathan Castillo:
Yeah. I remember the what was it, the John Lewis stamp last year. I mean, that one was amazing.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Yeah. Louis was, Ruth Bader Ginsburg as well, too. We did that one last year. And that, you know, I think if people didn't know who she was, you got to chance an opportunity to learn more about who she was as well.
Jonathan Castillo:
Lisa, more than a dozen new designs have already been announced for 2025. Right. What's all included in this year's batch?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Sure. So we have the Lunar New Year which we do every year. It's one of our series. Daniel just mentioned the Black Heritage as well too, both the Black Heritage, and we also have a love series as well too. So those are all, all continuing series that we have coming out this year. We do have, with the USPS turning 250 this year, we're gonna have some stamps coming out around that. We actually haven't publicly announced that one as yet, but I can't wait until we do it because it's a really cool design for that particular stamp. Next year, 2026 is the country's 250th. And so we do have a stamp coming out that commemorates that, which is the which we we'll talk about in a little bit more the American Revolution, but that is one of the stamps that celebrates the country turning 250.
'Cause We do have additional stamps coming out next year. So we really wanted to jumpstart, if you will, 2025 with a stamp that supports that and continue that through 2026. We're also tapping into cultural stamps. So we have this SpongeBob, which is really cool. Coming out is Goodnight Moon and probably one of my favorites this year. 'cause Remember I don't have an overall favorite stamp is the Betty White Stamp. We have gotten a lot of excitement about that particular stamp, probably because she was just so well known, I should say. But it's a beautiful stamp and she really crosses different generations. The other stamp we have coming out that I wanna mention is the Armed Forces Stamps. So the Armed Forces the Navy, the Marine, and the Army, they all turn 250 years this year as well too. So we just announced those stamps coming out. And then next year is every 10 year we, 10 years, we have the World Stamp Show. So it's the stamp show in the US every 10 years. So we did announce the World Stamp Show stamp recently, several other stamps to mention is the Appalachian Trail. There are also some, the Vibrant Leaves, dahlias and a baby wild animals coming out this year.
Karla Kirby:
So Lisa, let's start with some of the most popular series that are gonna be released for 2025. Can you tell us more about what Lunar New Year and the Black Heritage series will look like?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Sure. So the first stamp was issued in this is the, actually the one that's coming out this year is the year of the Snake. And that one came out in January of, of this year. It's the sixth of the 12 stamp series around Lunar New Year. As with last year's year of the Dragon Stamp, this stamp will also feature a photograph of a 3D mask. And then with the Black Heritage Series we just revealed that in February in New Orleans, and that is the 48th stamp in the series. This was Alan Tousant, and he was a pianist, a singer, a songwriter, composer, arranger, and a producer. So he was actually very well known for his music, you know, dominance, if you will.
Jonathan Castillo:
Daniel, you and I were talking a little bit earlier about the significance of the Black Heritage Series, right? And the series goes back all the way to 1978, I believe you said. What was the reason for launching that series?
Daniel Piazza:
The Black Heritage Series really grew out of the National Bicentennial celebrations in 1976. And there was a lot of discussion around that time about who was being commemorated in this anniversary and who was being left out of the commemorations. And, and so partially to address this this issue of black Americans being largely absent from the National Bicentennial commemorations, the idea for the Black Heritage Stamp kind of grew out of that. And, and it's gone on to become you know, an annual stamp series. And when a stamp series develops that way, one, it really highlights that this is something that the nation finds important to commemorate and honor, but it also means, you know, for collectors and for the public, it develops a following and you get people who look forward then to every year the new issue. What will the new issue be in the Black Heritage Series? Who will be commemorated? And it, the series has developed over time its own design aesthetic too. Very powerful portraits based on photographs and, and a style of lettering that's instantly recognizable. So it's really the series has over the nearly 50 years it's existed, it has an identity now and a following,
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
And interestingly enough, it's actually, we alternate male and female. So every year there's a one year it's a male, the next year it's a female. That was not always the case, but that's happened the last couple of years.
Jonathan Castillo:
That's actually very interesting, Lisa. And I think if I recall, there was a shift a little bit in the nineties too, that happened a little bit, right, Daniel?
Daniel Piazza:
Yeah, I, the, the popularity of the Black Heritage Series really kind of opened the doorway for more inclusion of Black Americans in other stamp series, the Legends of Hollywood series, the American Music Series that were ongoing at the time. And so and so the purpose of the Black Heritage Series sort of shifted a little and began to focus less on say well-known civil rights leaders or politicians into people that weren't as well-known, but perhaps should be, you know, should be remembered and commemorated more broadly. And that's become sort of the, the calling card of the Black Heritage Series over, let's say the last 20 or so years, is, is shining attention on the contributions of people who've been left out of mainstream history books.
Karla Kirby:
So the pop culture icon stamps are also very popular. So what's special this year about the Betty White stamp, Lisa?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Sure. So we, like I said, we have gotten a lot of interest in the Betty White stamp. She was actually, while she was known as the, you know, on the Golden Girls, she was actually a strong advocate for animal rights as well too. What I really love about this stamp though is what I, what I call like an Easter egg. So for the most observant fans of the stamps, if you look really closely, you'll see something very special about that particular stamp.
Jonathan Castillo:
I love that concept of Easter eggs. You know, we see 'em all the time in movies in photos, right? They can, they're always a lot of fun. I myself in particular, I love the video game Easter Eggs. I'm a video gamer. So but Daniel, to your recollection, have we done something like this in the past with these Easter eggs?
Daniel Piazza:
There are a few well-known examples of secret marks hidden in postage stamps. It actually began in the 19th century when a lot of different contractors were producing stamps for the post office department, all of the stamps of the same design printed by different contractors. And so they would put a little secret mark in the stamp so that the product of one company versus the other could be identified. But that was really for internal purposes, not meant to be discovered by the public. You know, then in the 1990s there were some examples of little hidden Easter eggs in stamps. I remember one picturing a rabbi who had the star of David hidden in his beard. And then there was a program actually from the late nineties and early two thousands where there were some images embedded in stamps that you needed a special decoder tool to be able to see. So, there's a little bit of history of, of doing this, but it's, it's largely been absent for the last 20 years, so it's fun to see it come back.
Karla Kirby:
So let's talk about stamps commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolutionary War. So Lisa, what do we have planned for that?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Sure. So there's a pane of stamps coming out related to the start of the war. That stamp is called The Battles of the American Revolution. It's a watercolor painting depicting scenes of five battles that appear alongside photographs of sites involved in each battle. As I mentioned earlier, with the country's 250th celebrating it next year in 2026, we wanted to at least start honoring or start coming out with stamps to really recognize that we're turning 250 as a country. So we'll have that one coming out this year and several more coming out in 2026.
Jonathan Castillo:
Daniel, I'm thinking the postal museum must have something going on for the Postal Services 250th anniversary. Are you able to share a little bit about what you're working on right now?
Daniel Piazza:
Sure. for the past several years the museum's curators myself and my colleagues have been working on identifying all of the material in the museum's collection that is pre 1815. So the entire colonial revolutionary and early federal period. There's never been a comprehensive listing or inventory of, of what we have from that era. And so we've been compiling that the museum's collections department has been conserving that material that we've identified and scanning it. And so, and so I would expect over the next few years as we commemorate the 250th anniversaries that, you know, we'll see blog posts and websites and lots of other lots of other content that uses that material.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
I can say that we are working very closely with the Polson Museum both for celebrating USPS's 250th and US’s 250th. So we're really excited about all the collaboration going on together.
Jonathan Castillo:
I think it's so cool what you were talking about earlier, Daniel, about like trying to find those artifacts that that predate, you know, the 1850. What's the oldest stamp that you found in your collection?
Daniel Piazza:
Well, the oldest stamp anywhere in the world is from 1840 Great Britain, the Penny Black, the first the first postage stamp in the world. But for this project, the earliest paper artifact that we have in the collection is a receipt from 1687 for 10 shillings in money that was paid to the post rider on the Boston Post Road carrying mail between New York and Connecticut.
Karla Kirby:
That was some find
Jonathan Castillo:
That is cool
Karla Kirby:
So one of the coolest things that I've seen and that we do every year is that we come out with stamps that really stand out because of their shapes. So you mentioned SpongeBob Square Pants,
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Karla Kirby:
Can we assume that is going to be a square stamp?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
You are right. It is a square stamp, so it's one of our fun stamps. And what I love about SpongeBob is it's so nostalgic, it crosses different generations as well too. So it is really cute the stamp that we have coming out. And it is, like you said, it is like it is a square stamp. There aren't any triangular stamps coming out this year, but there will be a round stamp coming out this year. So we had a couple of round stamps last year in 2024. We will have another round stamp coming out in this year. It's the 1794, the Compass Rose stamp. So it's used for any country in which first class male international services available. So it's based on a notebook drawing made by the aunt of the famous poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And it's really a compass that, and that really shows you how creative the work process can be coming up with the stamp.
Jonathan Castillo:
Talking about the shape of, of these stamps, it really kind of seems like we kind of limit the number of these different shapes that we offer any given year. Right. We don't really see too many of them. Daniel, maybe you can shed a little bit of light on this. Is there any historical reason for that?
Daniel Piazza:
Well, I think that when stamps were perforated in the more traditional way it was, it was a lot more difficult to change the shape of the perforating machine. It really only perforated in lines and straight lines. But I think with this switch recently to stamps being die cut rather than actually perforated holes punched in the paper, they're die cut now and you just peel them off the, the, you know, the, the liner, the backing. I think that's a lot easier to create different shapes and new and new perforation designs. So it's a part of it. Part of that is not just the aesthetic and the fun part of it, but it's, the technological advances I think have made that a lot more easy.
Karla Kirby:
So those, again, really creative approaches to the stamps and it's good that we're seeing that continued creativity as we go into this year's lineup. Speaking of which, can you tell us about any new programs your team is launching to help postal customers looking to buy our latest stamps or even previously issued stamps?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Sure. So one of the most frequent complaints that I continue to hear from customers all the time is they hear the stamps announced on social media or press releases and they get really excited. They go into our retail location and they ask for the stamp and they can't find the stamp. So starting last year, what we've done, what we'll continue to do is actually have a QR code on our retail signage. And that's sort of been a as you go into many stores nowadays, you notice a QR code you know, so you can actually shop online. So we're continuing that this year where if a customer goes into our retail store, they can't find the stamp, there's a QR code that they can use and it'll take them right to the postal store where they can order the stamps. So that makes it easier for customers to find these stamps. Sometimes the older stamps that we don't have at the post office, they can find it online. We also launched within less than a year or so, a new website called stamps forever.com. This is a site really dedicated to stamps and really dedicated to talking more about the stories behind the stamps. So it's a really a site where you can find a little bit more about how the stamp was designed, some of the key things or the exciting stories behind the stamps. And really it was there, it was built to create some excitement around the stamps for not only collectors, but also for the stamp enthusiasts.
Karla Kirby:
So when we talk about making these stamps available, are there limited quantities that are printed? Are these, we can go back and pull it out and print it again if there's an ask? How does that work?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Yeah, so they are limited quantities that are created and we, we rarely are seldom ever reprint the stamps. So we take our best guess in terms of looking at similar stamps and how they've performed in the past and use that to project out what stamps we should create. And I should just clarify, that is for our commemorative stamps. Mail use is a little bit different like the flag stamps for example. But when it comes to the commemorate stamps, we really do limit the amount that we produce. We also don't want to cannibalize, you know, the stamps in the future year too. So we wanna make sure that we can get the right number of stamps in the hands that are, you know, for those who want it, but also be able to have, you know, fresh stamps available for the next year.
Jonathan Castillo:
One of the reasons we devote an episode every year to talking about our new stamp lineup is because it's exciting to talk about the new designs and, you know the unique stories behind each one of them. But another important reason is that the Postal Service does rely on stamps for a large part of its business every year. And as we know, except in very special cases, the Postal Service generally gets no direct funding from taxpayers. Lisa, can you give us a sense of more or less how much revenue our stamps provide the Postal Service each year?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
So in 2024 stamps accounted for slightly more than $4 billion to the Postal Service, and we sold approximately a little bit more than 10.5 billion stamps. So it's still a pretty big number today.
Karla Kirby:
That is staggering.
Jonathan Castillo:
Absolutely staggering.
Karla Kirby:
Definitely gonna be looking for those new stamps. And just can we let folks know again where they can get a hold of their commemorative stamps or other mailing stamps?
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Yep. So stamps are available on the postal store if you go to usps.com, the postal store, if you also go to the stamps forever.com website where you can find out more about the stories, there's a link there to the postal store to able to buy the stamps. And then you can also go online and you can also go in retail to pick up your stamps. And we also have a catalog as well too that if you're interested, go onto the postal store or to stamps forever.com to sign up and get the catalog. You'll find out all of the new stamps and stamps related products, stamp and inspired products that come out each year.
Karla Kirby:
And Daniel, can you let our listeners know where the postal museum is located, if they're visiting or they live in the area?
Daniel Piazza:
Online the postal museum is postalmuseum.si.edu. Here in Washington DC, we're on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and First Street Northeast, right across from Union Station. So an easy, an easy train ride into Washington, DC and you can spend a day at the postal museum from just about anywhere in the, in the Northeast corridor.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Take it from me, you can easily spend a day there actually looking at all the stamps.
Karla Kirby:
Well, thank you Lisa and Daniel for visiting. We look forward to having you back again.
Daniel Piazza:
Thanks for having me.
Lisa Bobb-Semple:
Thank you very much Karla.
Jonathan Castillo:
Karla, it is always such a pleasure speaking with Lisa to learn about the upcoming stand lineup for the year. You know, this year we actually got to talk to Daniel as well from the postal museum, which is amazing 'cause you know, that that adds a different perspective altogether. And there are just so many stamps coming out this year that are gonna be amazing, right? The, the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, the Betty White Stamp, and then hello, SpongeBob, right? It's just a phenomenal lineup this year. And, and who knew that stamps could really be, you know, it's such big business, right? What did Lisa say? More than $4 billion.
Karla Kirby:
$4 billion in sales.
Jonathan Castillo:
Yeah, just remarkable.
Karla Kirby:
Definitely looking forward to the stamps. Looking forward to the heritage series and the lunar year of the dragon. Definitely will keep my eye out for that one. But also interesting to hear - limited quantities. So if people want the stamps, you need to get 'em as soon as they're available. Don't forget to visit usps.com. You can visit the store to get those stamps. You can also check out your local retail office to find out what stamps they have available. Well, that's all for this episode of Mailin’ It. Don't forget to subscribe to Mailin’ It wherever you get your podcast to make sure you don't miss any episodes and follow along on Instagram @USPostal Service, X @usps and on Facebook.