In this episode, Dale and Yasmine are joined by Bill Gicker, USPS Director of Stamp Services, to learn about the innovation and cultural significance behind our beloved stamps.
They say there is a story behind every stamp. From US presidents to pop culture icons, stamps have symbolized America - our values, contributions, and creativity. Since 1847, stamps have played an important role at the US Postal Service and in American culture.
In this episode, Dale and Yasmine are joined by Bill Gicker, Director of Stamp Services for the US Postal Service, to learn about what goes into the innovation, creative process and cultural significance of these miniature works of art.
Stamp Store: https://store.usps.com/store/home
Stamp History: https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/stamps-postcards.htm#history
2022 Stamps: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/1101-usps-reveals-new-stamps-for-2022.htm
Dale Parsan:
Hey everyone. I'm Dale Parsan.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
I'm Yasmin DiGiulio. We’re your hosts for Mailin It! The official podcast of the United States Postal Service.
Dale Parsan:
In this episode, we’ll focus on stamps. This is one of my favorite topics. I remember a few years ago when the Postal Service issued a stamp to commemorate Diwali, which is the biggest Hindu festival of the year. The stamps design was a picture of a traditional diya oil lamp. And there was a lot of pride in my local community where I'm from. I hadn't realized how impactful that decision to honor Hindu culture was until I started speaking with them, they felt like the US was recognizing something that was truly important to them.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
It's a great story. Dale, our stamp program really does play an important role in commemorating all these facets of American life. And I love the idea that there's a story behind every stamp. A quick bit of history for our listeners: The first prepaid postage stamps were issued on July 1st, 1847. Dale, do you remember from an earlier episode how postage was paid for before then?
Dale Parsan:
I remember this topic from our episode with Jenny Lynch. Wasn't it the person who received the letter who paid the postage?
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That's right. Another pop quiz question: Who has appeared on more US postage stamps than any other person?
Dale Parsan:
It's gotta be George Washington.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Two for two Dale, I'm impressed. George Washington was also one of the first people to appear on US stamps, along with Benjamin Franklin. We have a few other notable firsts. Martha Washington was the first woman to appear on a US postage stamp back in 1902. The first native American was Pocahontas in 1907. The first Hispanic American was Admiral David Farragut in 1903. And the first African-American was Booker T Washington in 1940. So Dale who's joining us today?
Dale Parsan:
Our guest for today's episode is Bill Gicker. Bill is the Director of Stamp Services for the Postal Service. We'll be talking to Bill about his thoughts on what makes stamps so meaningful to people and what inspires people to collect them, the process for choosing new stamp artwork, including the role of the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee and which stamps are coming out next year, along with what else is on the horizon for stamps services. Bill, welcome. Thanks for joining us.
Bill Gicker
Thanks for having me.
Dale Parsan
To start things off, tell us what you do in your role as the director of stamps services.
Bill Gicker:
As the Director of stamp services, I really oversee everything related to the stamp program. So from the incoming suggestions, from the public of which we receive about 30,000 a year, all the way up through the printing and distribution and sales of stamps.
Dale Parsan:
Wonderful. Selfishly speaking, were you involved at all with the Diwali commemorative stamp?
Bill Gicker
I was, yes.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
What did you do?
Bill Gicker:
I was the art director for that stamp. I worked with a photographer that we've worked with in the past. And the concept of what would be on the stamp was something that I had developed. So we had actually gone through the process of ordering the Dias from India. Um, we wanted them to be very authentic and it became a very beautiful little stamp. It wasn't easy though. It took a lot of work.
Dale Parsan:
That's incredible.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So, Bill, what do you think it is about stamps that make them so meaningful to people like Dale, for instance, with his connection to the Diwali stamp, do you think that helps inspire people to collect them?
Bill Gicker:
I think it does. The stamps really are global, so it's not just in the US it's really worldwide that they have meaning because they basically sum up the art history culture of a country and become a country's calling card. Uh, they really represent well for, for US stamps the best of America. Um, and we, we worked very hard to try to create a balanced program that really does represent the widest appeal of the national public.
Dale Parsan:
So in general, what makes stamps so valuable other than their intrinsic value? What makes one stamp more valuable than another to a collector?
Bill Gicker:
To a collector it's rarity? So one of the best examples is the inverted Jenny, which was a stamp that was created and had a mistake and only a few sheets of the mistake actually made it out to the public before it was pulled back. So those stamps become very valuable, but to the US Postal Service stamps are only ever worth the face value printed on the stamp. So even with the inverted, Jenny, if you had one of those highly valuable ones, for the Postal Service, it's still just worth the value that was printed on the face of the stamp.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So could you still use it today? No matter the value?
Bill Gicker:
That's right - stamps never expire as long as it's not damaged or canceled, it can still be used today.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That's interesting. And I know we have some stamps where the cost to the consumer is higher than the going rate for a stamp. I think they're called semi postal stamps. Could you explain a little bit about what those are?
Bill Gicker:
Sure. Uh, semi postals are mandated by Congress. Uh, the Postal Service issues, those stamps above face value, meaning above what it takes to actually mail a letter and the amount above the face value is given to another government agency. So an executive agency that agreed to take the funds and support a particular cause. So the ones we have right now are breast cancer, awareness, Alzheimer's awareness, save vanishing species for endangered species and the healing PTSD stamp.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That's great. I think that really shows how you can use stamps, not just to collect for your own personal interests, but also to support any causes that are important to you. So switching gears a little bit, how about you walk us through how stamps are created. I know you mentioned that the public sends in suggestions, is there a formal process for that? And do you really take those into consideration?
Bill Gicker:
Yeah. Uh, there is a formal process and we do very much take that into consideration each year. As I said earlier, the Postal Service receives about 30,000 suggestions for stamps a year. All of those come to the office of stamp development within our group. Every letter that we receive actually is responded to. So it's very much taken seriously. If the subject matter meets criteria, the criteria is published on usps.com. Then they are taken on a quarterly basis and presented to the citizens stamp advisory committee. When this happens, they're presented in a very democratic process. There is no attribution. It doesn't matter how many letters we receive. And it doesn't matter who sends them in. The committee, simply reviews the subject matter based on merit. And if it meets merit, it's considered as a stamp.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Do you think the committee would put Dale and I on a stamp to promote the podcast?
Bill Gicker:
Unfortunately, there is a rule that someone has to be deceased at least three years at this point to be on a stamp. So we're hopeful that we don't ever put you on a stamp anytime soon.
Dale Parsan:
So in the spirit of understanding that we are an age of feeling connected with entities, with companies, with, uh, federal agencies, are there any interactions between the public and the post office when determining what stamps are going to be put together like a voting process or anything after the initial voting process has done?
Bill Gicker:
No, there's no voting process. It's really a matter of, you know, the citizens stamp advisory committee was created to represent the American public. They are not postal employees. They all are volunteers essentially. And they're compensated for the time they come in, but that's it. And they're really meant to be citizen representatives that speak for the country. That decision was made in 1957 and the committee has existed since then.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So once the committee decides on a particular topic to be featured on a stamp, what's the timeline like from that point forward in terms of getting the art design together, finalizing, it printing, and then the stamp being available for sale?
Bill Gicker:
The times are really vary, but we always work three years in advance. So we always tell people, if you're looking to have something honored on stamp, you should give it at least three years. The Postal Service has a very strict clearance process. So stamps go through a rigorous clearance process legally, but they also go through a very rigorous process from a design standpoint. We feel that we're creating little icons, miniature works of art and that they need to really represent and tell the story very quickly because there's no text, it's not a book. It's a stamp. It's a one inch by one inch square that has to convey a lot of information all at once. The committee really works to help us select the way to best convey these sometimes really complex topics.
Dale Parsan:
And once we've decided on what the idea is going to be for a stamp who handles the artwork?
Bill Gicker:
The Postal Service has four contract art directors that we work with. And when a project is assigned, and then sometimes of course, I'm an art director as we talked about earlier, but the projects get turned over to our directors and they work with artists, other art directors, designers, photographers all over the country to figure out the best way to represent whatever that topic is. And they first bring in their selections, their initial selections for who would be a good person to, to work on a project with. We approve those and then they move forward and start the initial design development. And then on a monthly basis, we meet with the art directors to review designs in concept and development. And to what finally becomes a stamp.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Is there any photographers or designers that you tend to work with over and over again? Or do you regularly try to get new people involved in the process?
Bill Gicker:
We do regularly try to get new people involved. Although there are photographers and designers that we also work with on a regular basis. So it's really both. We don't want to limit ourselves, but at the same time, there are particular challenges to designing in such a small space. So once you get an art director or designer or a photographer, who's accustomed to what that takes to work in such a small scale, it's sometimes easier to go back to them, but at the same time, we also want to constantly bring in a new, a new look, a new approach to art.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
You mentioned not wanting to limit yourselves. I've noticed in the past few years that a lot of the stamps kind of have this third dimension to them beyond just being a two dimensional piece of artwork as you mentioned. You know, we had the sports ones where you can sort of feel the texture of a basketball stamp. For example, we had the scratch and sniff stamps. Um, I'm think those were very popular with children who use them as stickers. Um, and you know, we had the eclipse one where you could hold your thumb over it and it would change how that looked based on the eclipse. I think those are really cool. So could you talk a little bit about working on those more interactive stamps?
Bill Gicker:
Sure. What we try to do is use printing technologies, but in a way that hopefully enhances the storytelling of a stamp. With stamps, it's really all about conveying a story, the story of our nation, the story of whatever the topic is on the stamp. It would be easy to overuse techniques, just in a purely sort of fun kind of way. But what we've tried to do is take it and use it in a way that conveys the message. So with the total solar eclipse of the sun, the stamp uses a heat activated ink to reveal an image of the moon. The moon passes before the sun, which is what causes the eclipse. And we thought that having that extra element helped to tell that story. With our magic stamps, having the rabbit pop up out of the hat, just added an extra element. It helps stamps to be more current and more interesting. And it generates more interest which just keeps awareness alive in stamps.
Dale Parsan:
Bill, how difficult is it to make a stamp, scratch and sniff? I heard we released some of those.
Bill Gicker:
It's really not a matter of how difficult it is. It's a technology that exists, but it's how to do it in a way that isn't going to cause any problems. Because it is scratch and sniff, you have to actually scratch it to activate the scent. Years ago, we discussed doing a scented stamp, but that would cause a lot of problems for people with allergies. So by going with scratch and sniff where you have to actually scratch it to release the scent, it helped with that. And it allowed us to do something. We did that on a booklet of Popsicle stamps and it just gave it a nice little summertime smell we called it, but it was actually a watermelon scent. There is a limited list of cents that can be used and we have that list and we sort of check it every once in a while to see what might want to do. But of course, some smells are a little different than others. So the most common smells are, those are fruit or pine. Um, sometimes when you try other things, they can be confused with other things. So it's just, it's easier not to go into that.
Dale Parsan:
When we're thinking about how collectible stamps can be to, to the public, and we start thinking about these more creative printing processes, where we're using different inks and different strategies, do we have to take into account the long-term viability of a stamps construction when we're, when we're presenting that? Or is there a certain amount of time that we take into account that we expect it to be usable before it starts to degrade?
Bill Gicker:
Great? We do not so much with these additional printing techniques. Um, I think we're mindful of it, but we know that things like scent do dissipate. The basic lifespan of a stamp - we're trying to create a stamp that will change in no way under normal circumstances for at least 10 years. We can't account for a pane of stamps left on sort of the dash of your car in the middle of summer. But, you know, we do test for that and we do try to even have them be durable in those circumstances,
Yasmine DiGiulio:
As you mentioned, you know, the durability and the long lastingness of the stamps, um, you know, Dale and I had talked in an earlier episode about the stamp cave that's in Kansas City, Missouri, and I am just fascinated by this idea of an underground facility that houses all of these stamps. Um, so have you been there and, and could you tell us what it's like there?
Bill Gicker:
Sure. Yes. I've been there. Um, it is a manmade cave. It's, it's not naturally occurring. It's not like the bat cave, although I don't know how natural that was either. Um, but it's, uh, installation called Subtropolis, and it's a business park that it's underground. Uh, the benefit to that for us is that it it's easy to maintain a consistent temperature and humidity level. So stamps can be stored there without really being impacted. So the facility itself is very interesting and it is a limestone cave. And the whole thing is supported by the columns that are left after the limestone is mined out. And it's where the fulfillment happens for all stamps from the US Postal Service, both to customers, business and non-business, but also to the entire postal network.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And do we house older stamps that we are not currently issuing there?
Bill Gicker:
No, we don't really, the Postal Service is not in the business of older stamps. Uh, here at headquarters, we do have a vault that has some limited number of samples, but really we work with the Postal Museum - the Smithsonian Postal Museum - as a repository for our older stamps and stamp artifacts.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Do we ever, re-issue older designs?
Bill Gicker:
We do sometimes, uh, we do it in a very limited way, and it's usually for a special event like a world stamp show or something like that, or a particular anniversary. And it's usually our much older stamps. So stamps used to be engraved, uh, using the Intaglio stamp printing process, which means, uh, if you think of older stamps, you can actually touch your finger onto the ink and feel the ridges of the ink. We don't do that as much anymore. It's very expensive process, but we do pull it out occasionally and reuse it. And if the older stamps were done that way, then we would try to do that again. Yes.
Dale Parsan:
Bill, so on the topic of criteria and merit for stamps, what are some other categories that go into selecting an ideal for a stamp?
Bill Gicker:
So one of the ones we mentioned earlier was the individual has to be deceased for three years. That rule applies other than for presidents. If a president passes, he's eligible to be featured on a stamp, the first anniversary of his birth after his passing. So that's one exception to the three-year rule. Other things, topics have to be of national significance. We don't tend to do local cities or local events. We try to look for things that have an appeal to the whole country. We do states in 50 year increments of when they joined the union. We try not to honor very specific, uh, professions, because there are so many professions. We don't want to really leave anyone out and we couldn't do them all. Uh, the same goes for military units because there are so many, and we would never want to imply that one is more important than another. We tend to avoid that and just do all the major branches. Another area that we take into consideration is a subject be American or had a significant impact on American culture.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So is there anything that's off limits?
Bill Gicker:
Uh, yes, actually we, we try not to feature violence. We don't do bad news. The stamp program honors the best of America. So we don't do tragedies and we try to, as much as we can promote healthy living, healthy lifestyle. So they become limitations. We also don't directly honor commercial brands. So though we may do Disney characters. We don't do Disney as a company and we're not doing other advertising type stamps. In fact, we can not do advertising on stamps.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So you mentioned that presidents don't necessarily follow the three years post-death rule for the stamps. So is that process for designing a presidential stamp quicker than normal stamps, or do you kind of start developing those in advance?
Bill Gicker:
They are developed in advance. We realized at some point that so much of a president's passing is pre-planned. They very much have to acknowledge that one day they will pass and they create an entire book on that. So we also are a part of that process and we approach the presidents while they're still living to work on the stamps. At first, it seemed a little uncomfortable to do so, but once we realized that it's just a part of what they do as a president anyway, it made it more comfortable. And that way we're not approaching families at a time of personal tragedy and grief,
Dale Parsan:
The Postal Service recently revealed their stamps lineup for 2022. Some of the stamps in, uh, continue the tradition of flags and flowers, but what are some of the more unique stamps that people can look forward to?
Bill Gicker:
For the 2022 program, we have a couple of interesting stamps that are based on anniversaries. So it's the 50th anniversary of Title IX. So we are doing a stamp to honor that important civil rights legislation. We're also doing one for the 50th anniversary of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. The act that went into creating our nations, national marine sanctuaries. Both stamps are exciting, and we look forward to doing those. Uh, we're also doing stamps to honor pony cars. So that is very exciting for our car collectors out there and creates a fun stamp that's still very serious because the car collecting community is very serious about their cars.
Dale Parsan:
Bill, so with so many exciting stamps coming up, something that the audience may not know about is the Postal Service has stamp unveiling ceremonies, where we release them to the public. Is there anything that your office specifically does to be involved with those? Do all stamps, get their unveiling ceremonies?
Bill Gicker:
The unveiling ceremonies are primarily for commemorative stamps. There will be stamps that are issued that do not have a, an actual ceremony, but yes, my office determines the locations that these events will be held. Usually we work in partnership with the states that we're dealing with or with, uh, experts that we're working with to determine the best location to celebrate the launch of a stamp. So, so that there will be people there that have an inherent interest in whatever that topic is. And then add to the fun and excitement of that day. All the work we do in stamp services, whether it's legal or design is really culminating in the first day of issue ceremony. And we want that day to be as much of a celebration as possible with a total positive impact for the postal service.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And do we release the same number of stamps every year?
Bill Gicker:
Not exactly the same number, there's a range, but around 24 new issues a year. Um, more designs because some stamps have a single design, but others have multiple designs, but it's around 24.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So how, how long has the stamp available for sale?
Bill Gicker:
Typically a stamp is designed, especially the commemorative stamps… Let me distinguish between commemoratives and mail use, but stamps are intended to be available for about a year. They may go a little bit longer than that, and they may run just slightly short of that, but the intention is a year.
Dale Parsan:
What happens to any stamps from the commemorative line that aren't sold in that roughly year timeline?
Bill Gicker:
Well, they'll, they'll continue for sale. Now that we have forever stamps, the rate does not change or does not expire. So the stamps will remain for sale for about three years before we finally would just retire them. Um, most of our stamps are sold out by that point. So it's not a common occurrence that after three years there's anything left, but if there happens to be, for some reason, because of certain accounting rules, we do have to destroy a few stamps, but not very many.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And have you seen the demand for stamps change over the years as people kind of move away from physical letters and towards more digital means of communicating?
Bill Gicker:
Yes. We have definitely seen a decrease in the purchase of stamps. What I've not seen a decrease in is the interest in stamps and not necessarily from a collector standpoint, that's remained pretty consistent. But what I find interesting is stamps are sort of the thing you don't think about until you do. And they become very important to people, even though on a daily basis, they just arrive there a little colorful thing in the corner of your envelope, but they actually are very important to people. I mean, just looking at the 30,000 letters that we receive each year for subjects shows that it's very much on people's minds. I'm upset when people don't recognize or don't realize a stamp has even been out there. But at the same time, I'm always amazed. How important stamps seem to be to the, to the American public?
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Yes, I feel like there's a stamp for every subject already. So is it challenging nowadays to find new subjects to have on the stamps?
Bill Gicker:
Not really, because there's always something new and you know, each year there's always something new coming up, but also we do revisit things that have been significant in our past as well.
Dale Parsan:
We're talking about the 2022 line up of stamps, but to my knowledge, only a few of them have been, have been announced. Is there anything you can tell us about what hasn't been announced for 2022?
Bill Gicker:
I can't tell you exactly what hasn't been announced, but I can tell you there is still more to come. A stamp is not a stamp until the Postmaster General signs off and says that it is a stamp. And in order for him to do that, they have to be fully legally cleared and vetted. And that process, like I said, does take awhile. So though I can't reveal what's coming next, I can guarantee you, there are more stamps to come for 2022. And of course we're currently working on 2023, 2024 and 2025. So more exciting things to come.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Of our listeners at home who are interested in the stamp program, what's the best way for them to find out about the new stamps and how can they purchase them?
Bill Gicker:
Uh, well, stamps can always be purchased at local post offices, but at usps.com is the best place to get a selection of all of our stamps.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And they'll come from the stamp cave, right?
Bill Gicker:
They will come from the stamp cave. Yes. Um, all information on stamps can be found on usps.com/about – in the About section. And there, you can find information on the citizens stamp advisory committee, uh, the stamp design process, stamp submission process, or subject submission process. So there's a lot of information there and more to come. We're working with them right now to start telling more of the stories behind stamps.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And you mentioned earlier about these first day of issue ceremonies that we hold for quite a few of our stamps… Are those open to the public?
Bill Gicker:
They are, almost all of them are open to the public. Uh, we try to make sure at least some public can get in. If there is some reason that there is a restriction, but they are open to the public. They are free. Again, they're just celebrations of our stamps.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
All right, Bill. So tell us, what's your favorite staff?
Bill Gicker:
Oh boy, that's always a tough one.
Dale Parsan:
You had to know it was coming though.
Bill Gicker:
I always know it's coming, but it doesn't make it any easier. You know, part of the challenge is I've been in stamp services for 23 years and in that time probably been involved with over 2000 stamps. So to pick a favorite is like picking your favorite child. It's not really the right thing to do. Certainly there are ones that have more meaning to me. Uh, I grew up at a time when Star Wars was a huge part of my life. So anything related to Star Wars always means a little more. I certainly played with Hot Wheels as kid. So we we've done those on stamps, but also sometimes the development of a stamp or the importance of a stamp to me is not so much what's on the stamp, but what happened in the making of the stamp. And of course for the public, they don't know that, but for me personally, it sometimes is more meaningful than what's on the stamp itself. One example I can give, we did a stamp for the Broadway playwright Moss Hart. Now, before we worked on the stamp, I'd never heard of Moss Hart, but he was married to Kitty Carlisle who was a vaudeville performer. But also when I was a kid watching game shows with my grandparents, she was very much a part of the game show circuit. And when we went to meet with her to share the art with her, she teared up and it was such an emotional moment for her. And then lasting moment for me that sometimes it's those elements that mean so much to me, rather than maybe the subject matter of a stamp.
Dale Parsan:
And wonderful note to end on Bill. Thanks for joining us today.
Bill Gicker:
Sure. Thank you.
Dale Parsan:
Okay. Time for, did you know, in this segment, Yasmine I each share a fun historical or cultural fact about the Postal Service.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That’s right Dale. We try to share some unique tidbits or trivia about the Postal Service and its history that you wouldn't find anywhere else. Dale, why don't you go first this time?
Dale Parsan:
With pleasure Yasmine. You know, every once in a while, I'll see an article about how technology is making people's handwriting worse. Did you know the Postal Service has a facility dedicated to the ciphering bad handwriting on envelopes and packages?
Yasmine DiGiulio:
It didn't, hopefully none of my letters have ever been sent there.
Dale Parsan:
Well, if you wrote an address illegibly or left out key piece of information, a digital image of your mail might have been sent to the US Postal Service Remote Encoding Center in Salt Lake City. That's where address images go when the local processing centers come across delivery addresses that the computers can't make heads or tails out of.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
There's an office in Utah that specializes in reading people's bad handwriting?
Dale Parsan:
Sort of. Sometimes it's an address that can't be read because the envelopes been damaged or people use some strange font that a computer can't recognize. But, let's take a step back and explain most mail entering processing facilities as business mail that's already barcoded. So no problem there. However, when a regular non-business letter enters a postal service processing facility, a machine reads the address on the envelope and compares it with a master database. If there's a match, the computer prints out a barcode, and onto the piece of mail it goes.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And if there's no match?
Dale Parsan:
If a processing facility’s computers can't read an address on an envelope, instead of getting a barcode and image of that envelope is sent to Salt Lake City. There, the Remote Encoding Center’s computers take at deciphering the address on the image. If they can't do it, a specialist at the center gets involved. Usually they're able to make out enough information to help the local processing facility generate a barcode so that piece of mail can be sorted and sent on its way.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
It's really interesting. And there's only one Remote Encoding Center for the whole United States?
Dale Parsan:
Well, there used to be more Remote Encoding Centers, but the one in Salt Lake City is the only one left. The number of centers peaked in 1997 at 55 centers nationwide. They started declining shortly after as more pre barcoded letters entered the mail stream and handwriting analysis software improved. In 1997, less than 2% of handwritten addresses could be read by a computer. By 2003, computers had gotten good enough to read about 80% of handwritten addresses. Fast forward, another decade and that percentage reached about 98%. As a result by the end of 2014, only one center remained in operation. All right, Yasmin your turn.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Thanks Dale. My did you know, this time is very closely related to the mail by mule fact that you recently shared. From that episode, we learned that the Postal Service uses mules to deliver mail to the Havasupai people in the heart of the Grand Canyon. We also learned that most of what the mules bring down the narrow trail to the Supai Post Office is food. The mule delivery train starts at the Peach Springs Arizona post office, which did you know is the only post office in the country with a 10 foot by 10 foot walk-in freezer. It stores all of the milk, meat, and other cold supplies destined for Supai.
Dale Parsan:
I'm guessing they need the freezer onsite so that the food and milk can make the three-hour trip down without spoiling?
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That’s right. So we recently spoke with Peach Springs postmaster, Dwayne Wiley, who shared with us a funny story about the mule train. Every Wednesday, a very large order of potato chips is sent down with the mules. Well, the trail's pretty narrow and the mules are loaded up with these big bulky boxes of chips. As a result, every once in a while, a mule will get too close to the canyon walls and a box will get torn open. So instead of a trail of breadcrumbs, these mules are leaving a trail of potato chip bags as they make their way down. There's no way for the mule master at the front, see behind the mules. So they can't tell this has happened until they reached the bottom. There have even been times in the past when hikers coming down the trail, after the mule train have picked up these bags and return them to the mule master.
Dale Parsan:
Can you imagine you're hiking down into the Grand Canyon, suddenly they're random bags of potato chips on your path?
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Or, you’re the mule master and you go to unpack your animals only to find nearly empty boxes.
Dale Parsan:
I wonder if the mules ever sneak a snack on the way down the trail?
Yasmine DiGiulio:
You know what I think we need to take a trip and investigate. So Dale, who do you think wins today's did you know?
Dale Parsan:
Uh, you stole my topic from last time? I think I win by default.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
I prefer to think I enhanced the topic, but we'll let the listeners make that decision. What did you think about our conversation with Bill?
Dale Parsan:
I thought it was amazing. It's honestly fascinating how much goes into the creation of these small pieces of art, the timeline, the impact from the community and just the amount of effort the Postal Service goes through in taking it from a public generated idea to a finished stamp.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
I agree. It's easy to take it for granted when you just see the stamps on the outside of your letters and not realize the process behind it, the collaboration and all of the thought. I really loved hearing more about the stamp cave! You know, that's my favorite postal facility. Do you think our boss would, let me go there?
Dale Parsan:
I think now that we have an in through Bill, we might have a better chance.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Well, I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for the upcoming stamps for next year that haven't been released yet.
Dale Parsan:
All right. Well that wraps us up for today. Don't forget to check our website for updates. You can also follow us on Instagram @USPostalService, Twitter @USPS and on Facebook. Subscribe to Mailin It! wherever you get your podcast to make sure you don't miss the next episode.