First there were the R2D2 mailboxes (has anyone actually seen one of these installed in their city?), and now it appears the USPS will be releasing some Star Wars stamps (presumably to commemorate the 30th anniversary). 15 stamps in all:
Our Heroes
Luke gazing at the twin suns
Leia in the corridor with R2
Han & Chewie poised for battle
Ben poised to use his lightsaber
C-3PO
Yoda
The Baddies
Vader
Boba Fett
Emperor Palpatine
Stormtroopers on the move
The Vehicles
X-wing fighter
Millenium Falcon
The Prequels
Queen Amidala
Darth Maul
Anakin & Obi Wan do battle
On sale in May, you can vote for your favorite stamp at the link above.
I announced it already but your OP is much better than mine. I see that the USPS is also having special Star Wars Express Mail envelopes- three designs: Young Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Darth Vader.
For the record, here’s a list of all the movies with a stamp in USPS history (listed with denomination)
The Great Train Robbery ($0.32)
The Phantom of the Opera ($0.32)
Dracula ($0.32)
Frankenstein ($0.32)
The Mummy ($0.32)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (twice: $0.32 & $0.37)
Beau Geste ($0.25)
Gone with the Wind ($0.25)
Stagecoach ($0.25)
The Wizard of Oz ($0.25)
Fantasia ($0.41)*
Pinocchio ($0.37)
Citizen Kane ($0.33)
Dumbo ($0.41)*
The Wolf Man ($0.32)
Bambi ($0.37)
Cinderella ($0.39)
Alice in Wonderland ($0.37)
Peter Pan ($0.41)*
Lady and the Tramp ($0.39)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial ($0.33)
The Little Mermaid ($0.37)
Beauty and the Beast ($0.39)
Aladdin ($0.41)*
Jurassic Park ($0.33)
The Lion King ($0.37)
Titanic ($0.33)
The USPS filmmaking series cited the films Nagana, The Razor’s Edge and Husbands, as well as a second stamp each for *Frankenstein, GWTW, Kane, * & E.T.
I have. It’s on/near the corner of Monroe and Montgomery in Spokane, WA. I thought it was a trash can when I first saw it and figured it had been painted that way by a local business (this stretch is filled with oddball shops, public radio stations, karate dojos, self-improvement stores, and the like).
Then my buddy asked if I’d seen the Star Wars mailbox on Monroe yet, and I put two and two together.
They look very good, actually. But I wonder how many people, like me, don’t recognize it as a mailbox… which seems to kinda defeat the whole purpose of the USPS, no?
I know that the US Post Office isn’t allowed to sell stamps of people who aren’t dead yet, and that this gave them a problem when they wanted to make a Seinfeld stamp - they got stuck with having a picture of Jerry’s empty living room, starring the couch. So how are they able to have stamps with Luke, Leia, Han, etc. on them? None of the actors playing them are dead yet except for Alec Guiness. Have they changed the rules recently?
Actually, it’s not so much “not allowed” as an internal policy they adhere to closely, though they have made very rare exceptions (like here)
Actually, the Seinfeld stamp shows the doorway & fridge, not the couch. The living room furniture is featured in the All in the Family and The Cosby Show stamps, though.
In addition to the fact that everyone depicted is a “character” (so the actors themselves aren’t the subject), all the stamps are illustrations. None are actual stills from the films or character photos. Also, all the descriptions of the stamps (there’s always a little blurb or text) mention the story and characters, but none of the 8 living actors whose features are visible are cited anywhere on the stamp sheet itself. Essentially, the guy in the painting may resemble Mark Hamill, but the stamp is of Luke Skywalker. It may be hair-splitting, but is probably enough of a distinction to make the USPS happy.
They have an R2D2 mailbox in front of the courthouse in Royal Oak, MI. I saw it last Sunday while I was out riding my bike. Pretty cool. I’m definitely going to get myself a sheet of those Star Wars stamps.
Heh, interestingly I have this great little collection of Apollo program stamps complete with portraits of the crews and everything…except nearly all of them are from various random countries that aren’t the US and probably had nothing to do with the moon landings. The one stamp in the set from the US is of (the still-living) Neil Armstrong at the foot of the LM ladder, but he’s in his spacesuit, so you only assume it’s him.
The USPS is weird like that, about who is “allowed” to be on a stamp, but then again, it’s roughly the same policy that the Mint has with who they put on coins (generally dead people).
This is how a lot of postal services (especially from 3rd world countries) make money–by issuing stamps with highly collectible subjects (Disney, British Royal Family, Movie Stars, etc.), 90% (or more) of which they know will probably be bought by international collectors. For every stamp a postal service sells that it doesn’t have to later process, it makes a lot of profit.
That’s why people bitching about the whole “Vote for the Elvis stamp” and other gimmicks don’t appreciate that those issues in particular are going to be huge revenue generators for USPS. Because they still have some specific criteria for subject selection, those types of high-profile collectible issues are fewer and more far between, so when one (like the SW issue) come up, they market the hell out of it because they know people will be buying those stamps (and keeping them) that usually wouldn’t at all. It may be incredibly hokey, but it gets the word out.
I saw a storm trooper and a lady in a brown cape waving beside a star wars mailbox in Mission Valley near the Target in San Diego last week. It was a WTF momment for me since I saw the storm trooper first and the mailbox last.
