Say ‘Be My Valentine’ With Customized Postage

Photo Stamps Give Mail a Personal Touch

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, there’s no better time to say “I love you” than with a greeting card. And if you’re looking for a way to make your greeting even more special, personalized your card with Customized Postage.

Once upon a time, you had to do something pretty remarkable – and be dead for at least 5 years – just to be considered as a candidate for U.S. postage. But now you can join Frank Sinatra, Abe Lincoln, Elvis Presley and countless other American heroes on the front of your next envelope!

Customized Postage is a creative new way to give your mail a personal touch. And getting started is easy. Go online to www.usps.com and choose from one of four authorized postal partners – photo.stamps.com, PictureItPostage.com, zazzle.com or stampexpressions.com. Have a digital file of your photo ready (children, pets, birthday parties, weddings – even corporate logos or your alma mater). You can crop, enlarge, rotate – tinker with the image until you get it just the way you want it – and then pick a border color.

Customized Postage is available in various denominations so you can use them on postcards, First-Class Mail, Priority Mail and Express Mail. All of the companies offer sheets of 20 stamps; PictureItPostage.com and Stamps.com also makes them in rolls to fit on your business mailing equipment.

Of course, you can’t use just any photo. The images must be created by you, belong to you or your business, or not violate copyright laws in any other way. They also must not be inappropriate or offensive. See the company websites for more information.

Photo stamps aren’t limited to Valentine’s Day. They can be used for any holiday or special occasion, including birthdays, Mother’s Day, wedding and anniversaries, graduations, baby announcements and even Easter. Photo.stamps.com also offers images of NASCAR drivers and all 32 NFL teams and over 100 collegiate logos and mascots. Zazzle.com offers historical photos and vintage posters from the Library of Congress, wedding images from The Knot Wedding Shop and childhood artwork from Pemberton & Oakes.

So what are you waiting for? You no longer have to be elected President of the United States or win 12 gold medals in the next Olympics to get your own postage. Try Customized Postage today – and seal your Valentine’s Day greeting with more than a kiss.

Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

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. 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.