Fellow millennials: Do you enjoy florals, trains, and collecting things for no reason beyond how well they vibe with your personal aesthetic? If so, the United States Postal Service needs you! Behold ten stamps you need in your life right now (to help preserve this integral and literally institutional national service).
Look: your ability to purchase between one to several thousand sheets of stamps should not determine whether or not an essential government agency can continue operating. You shouldn’t have to buy fancy stickers in what feels like a vain attempt to preserve your right to vote by mail during a pandemic. Like so many parts of our lives now, these small calls to action should have been handled on a broader scale.
But if you’re scrolling anxiously through your assorted feeds trying to find even one small way to Do Something, Anything That Matters At All Right Now, I’ve got a small suggestion for you: buy some stamps. Use them for so many things!!! Detail the minutiae of your day in voluminous tomes and send them each of your faraway siblings. Draft anguished love notes to your crush. Send scathing letters to the congresspeople and senators who are failing to represent you. You can make all of this happen at (roughly) 55 cents an envelope — and absorb lessons about notable moments and people in American history along the way.
1. Spooky Silhouette Stamps
- Price: $11 per sheet
- Quantity: 20 per sheet
As a crone-positive publication, we can’t help but recommend this sheet of colorful, vaguely macabre stamps.
2. Sesame Street Stamps
- Price: $8.80 per sheet
- Quantity: 16 per sheet
Cute and vibrant, these Sesame Street stamps double as a reminder about the dangers of privatizing a national service — because unlike the beloved Sesame Street TV show, these stamps weren’t created for public consumption only to be locked behind an expensive paywall.
3. Strawberries 3 Cent Stamp
- Price: $90 or $300
- Quantity: Sold exclusively in coils of 3,000 and 10,000 stamps
I can’t imagine ever needing 3,000 beautiful strawberry stickers that are also backed by the United States Federal Reserve, but at the same time, I can think of worse ways to spend $90.
4. Transatlantic Railroad Stamps
- Price: $9.90 per sheet
- Quantity: 18 per sheet
It might no longer be easy to travel by rail from one end of the continental United States to the other, but you can still show your enthusiasm for future transit options with these beautiful, gold foil train stamps. (Also: truly and sincerely, big shoutout to the USPS website for including background info about the transatlantic railway’s history of poor labor practices and racism in their elevator pitch for this stamp.)
5. T-Rex Stamp
- Price: $8.80 per sheet
- Quantity: 16 per sheet
Purchasing a whole bunch of T-Rex stamps will help tear through legislators’ attempts to decimate our public services like so many enormous, steak knife-sharp dino teeth. Look: these stamps are metal as hell and that’s my main argument here.
6. Gwen Ifill Stamp
- Price: $11 per sheet
- Quantity: 20 per sheet
Give each of your written correspondences the gravitas they deserve through stamps dedicated to trailblazing journalist Gwen Ifill, political reporter and renowned debate moderator. Let these stamps remind you to ask better questions, and more of them.
7. American Gardens Stamps
- Price: $11 per sheet
- Quantity: 20 per sheet
If you want to support publicly owned land that no longer belongs exclusively to the wealthiest among us, might I suggest some beautiful American Gardens stamps? Come for the tiny, gorgeous paintings of elegant gardens, stay for the United States Postal Service’s salute to the need for public spaces everyone can use and enjoy.
8. Frog Stamps
- Price: $11 per book
- Quantity: 20 per book
Get ready for an assortment of loud, grade A, all-American frogs. Really: each of the North American tree frogs featured here are known for their distinctive calls, from the chuckling northern leopard frog to the singing, cowbell-esque American green tree frog. But also, each are vulnerable populations at risk of extinction — so support the USPS’ effort to teach us about these shouty boys and grab some extra stamps along the way.
9. Sally Ride Stamp
- Price: $11 per sheet
- Quantity: 20 per sheet
As the first American woman in space (and also the only publicly known LGBT astronaut), Sally Ride’s legacy of curiosity and optimism has inspired so many. We may not be able to escape this cursed planet and look down on it from afar, but with these stamps, we can support the legacy of someone who did.
10. Post Office Murals Stamps
Price: $5.50 for sheet
Quantity: 10 per sheet
These Post Office Mural stamps are gorgeous and deeply meta at the same time. Each one represents actual (seemingly New Deal-funded) murals you can find at post offices across the country.
In their description for these stamps, the USPS website explains:
In the 1930s and 1940s, murals brought a touch of beauty to Post Office locations across the United States. In 2019, the U.S. Postal Service celebrates these works of art, which were designed to help boost the morale of Americans during the Great Depression.
Beautiful murals created by local artists, composed on public buildings that serve a wide range of needs — what could be a better reminder about why the USPS is so important?
At the end of the day, the USPS provides so many critical services to communities around the country. They deliver anywhere, not just where it’s most profitable to go. They help (some of) us vote remotely, provide spaces to safely receive mail if our homes can’t serve that purpose, and they even add a little extra art and history to our everyday lives. Now more than ever, we can’t take their work for granted. In the middle of a pandemic, as so many lives have been thrown into chaos, we shouldn’t have to worry about this on top of staying safe and keeping or getting a new job — but here we are, because our federal government has put us in this position. If you can kick a couple of bucks over to support this essential institution, I urge you to pick up a few sheets of the colorful currency-based options above.
Each stamp listed in this post has a lengthy description on the USPS website — and every single one tackles their subject’s history and legacy in more detail than I could have here. I recommend giving them all a read!
