Yoda and 14 other Star Wars stamps still available

Postal Service begins removal of R2D2 letter collection boxes

CHICAGO — Nearly eight months ago in neighborhoods and street corners not so far, far away, hundreds of official U.S. Postal Service blue collection boxes were transformed into Star Wars character R2-D2 look-alikes. This was done to promote an exciting new adventure on which the U.S. Postal Service embarked with Lucasfilm Ltd.

Seven of these boxes were placed in strategic locations throughout Chicago, including near Millennium Park and on the Magnificent Mile. The time has come for the R2D2 collection boxes to be retired, and in the coming weeks people will see them disappear to be replaced with the standard Postal Service collection boxes.

“But R2D2 hasn’t totally disappeared,” said Chicago District Manager/Postmaster Gloria Tyson. “One R2D2 collection box, signed by Star Wars creator George Lucas, is on display at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.”

Star Wars fans can still purchase commemorative postage stamps celebrating the 30th anniversary of the blockbuster film.A sheet of 15 stamps featuring Star Wars characters was issued in May. Earlier this summer, the Postal Service announced Yoda as the top pick of Americans who voted to determine which character’s stamp would be featured on a full sheet of 20 stamps. The stand-alone Yoda stamp was issued October 25.

Customers can purchase the stamps at Post Offices throughout Chicago; online at www.usps.com; or by calling 1-800-STAMP-24.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.