By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
The service announced Monday that it was tossing out its rule that its stamps honor only dead individuals and will be opening up this postage-stamp-size billboard space to the living, as well.
Eager — some might say desperate — to engage the public as postal revenues decline, the service has asked citizens to jump on Facebook and Twitter and submit the names of five living people they would like to commemorate.
Postal officials said they hoped the move would create some excitement and even prompt some young people to engage with snail mail, at least for special occasions.
“Having really nice, relevant, interesting, fun stamps might make a difference in people’s decisions to mail a letter,” said Stephen Kearney, the Postal Service’s manager of stamp services. “This is such a sea change.”
When the news broke Monday on the Web sites of various news organizations, including The New York Times, readers began promoting their favorite candidates. Popular nominees included Lady Gaga, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Bob Dylan. CBS News gave readers a choice, listing options like Neil Armstrong (very popular) and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook (not so much).
Mr. Kearney said that while the Postal Service is enjoying perusing the responses, its choice would not depend on such polls to pick the first living honorees. Its Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee will sift through the suggestions and make a recommendation to the postmaster general, who will make the final decision.
The Postal Service usually receives about 40,000 suggestions a year, but this move is likely to increase that number.
In one famous instance, the postmaster himself — not the committee — came up with a person to put on a stamp, and it turned out to be the most popular stamp ever: Elvis Presley, who died in 1977. The Postal Service did survey citizens on whether to use an image of the heavier older Elvis or the slender young Elvis. In what was then an unprecedented move, preaddressed ballots were distributed in post offices throughout the country. More than one million ballots were received — the young Elvis was the overwhelming choice.
The stamp was issued in 1993, and about 124 million were sold. The only other person among the top 10 best-selling stamps of all time was Marilyn Monroe, who died in 1962. Her stamp was issued in 1995, and about 44 million were sold.
Mr. Kearney said that the usual three-year process to move a stamp from suggestion to implementation would be condensed so that at least one stamp with a living person would be available later next year, along with 34 other new stamps already scheduled for release.
Some, including stamp collectors, were worried about the postal service’s decision to break with tradition and use living people, saying it could allow the influence of commercial interests or result in fly-by-night people with no lasting legacy.
“Why not just sell ad space on stamps?” one reader wrote on nytimes.com.
But Mr. Kearney said the critics should not worry.
“I want to reassure everyone that we won’t let this cheapen the value of being on stamps,” he said.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/us/postal-service-will-begin-honoring-living-people-on-stamps.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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