USPS 2020 Stamp Preview

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The 2020 postage stamp preview for the U.S.P.S. is up. Linn's Stamp News has some bigger images; so you can really check out the new 2020 stamps. I don't hate it! I don't entirely love it, but I don't hate it. The Love stamp is a snoozer, and overall, the choices seem pretty conservative. Gwen Ifill is giving me warm fuzzies though. I was so tickled to see a favorite illustrator of mine, Camile Chew, had done the Lunar New Year stamp! The Harlem Renaissance and Thank You stamps are the stand outs for me. What's got you pumped for mailing in the new year? How many of these stamps are actually specialty printed with spot ink or metallics or lenticular and they JUST DON'T TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT IT? For example, this year's Spooky Silhouettes are foil. I had no idea. I loved them and now I have to love them more and I was not ready. You certainly cannot tell that from any of their marketing.

Comments

[Joe F.]

I'm actually planning to write them to suggest that they improve their marketing on new stamps. As you say: holy frijoles, the Spooky Silhouettes stamps are *amazing*. I've been using them for a few days, and I actually find myself just sitting and playing with the envelope after I put the stamp on, because I like them so much. And that's true of previous issues, too -- I had *no idea* how beautiful the Transcontinental Railroad stamps were until I actually had them in hand. Yes, I knew how great the paintings were, but the gold foil sets them off perfectly, and you absolutely can't tell that from the pictures on the USPS site.

It must make the designers crazy, seeing how flat the designs look on the site after the care they put into production.

[Cynthia]

I had the same thoughts about the poor marketing. Let's not forget about the lenticular magic stamps which were basically hidden on the USPS site. The Lunar New Year stamp is interesting... the rest are boring.

[Kevin]

My response to most of the new stamps is a shrug of my shoulders, but I really like the "Thank You" stamps that were announced. That's something that doesn't get said nearly enough, and I plan to pick up some to use as postage.