GREAT STAMPS FOR 2003. The second U.S. "prestige" booklet of stamps will feature images related to the U.S. Flag and other patriotic themes. It will be issued in July 2003 and sell for the face value of the 20 37-cent stamps contained within it. The first prestige booklet was issued in 2000 and featured U.S. Navy submarines.

Also in 2003, a number of stamp series will continue with new issues, including: Lunar New Year series, featuring the Year of the Ram; Literary Arts, with Zora Neale Hurston; American Treasures, featuring paintings by Mary Cassatt; Nature of America, depicting the Arctic Tundra; Legends of Hollywood, with Audrey Hepburn; and Holiday, depicting Christmas-oriented musical instruments.

Other commemoratives in 2003 will celebrate American Filmmaking, Reptiles & Amphibians, Early Football Heroes, the centennials of the First Powered Flight and the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the bicentennials of the Louisiana Purchase and Ohio Statehood, Southeast Lighthouses, activist Cesar Chavez and country musician Roy Acuff.

Previously announced and unveiled commemorative stamps for 2003 include Thurgood Marshall and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The designs for the remainder of the 2003 commemorative stamp program will be unveiled Oct. 10 at Legoland in Carlsbad, CA.

TRANSFORMING THE INDUSTRY. Mailers are impressed and encouraged by the efforts of the Mailing Industry Task Force as USPS moves ahead with transformation. "The accomplishments coming from the group are innovative, collaborative and focused on all customer groups," says Hamilton Davison, CEO of Paramount Cards, a member of the steering committee.

The task force was formed in March 2001. It has developed programs and initiatives to add customer value and reduce costs, including intelligent mail, enhanced payment systems, postal pricing and address quality.

SPECIAL HEROES. Twin Cities, MN, postal employees Stan and Bruce Von Bank are also volunteer firefighters, and they helped rescue an infant from a burning house last month. They hoisted another firefighter into a window to find the baby. Bruce helped resuscitate the child, who was not breathing when carried from the house.

REACHING OUT. USPS is releasing a new toolkit with a series of translation cards in both Spanish and Chinese to communicate more effectively. Cards will be distributed to post offices with the highest concentration of Spanish- and Chinese-speaking customers.