Over Production of Commemorative Stamps Costs USPS $2M a Year
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PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The United States Postal Service is on track to lose $15 million this year and one reason is bad planning.
The USPS bet big that a stamp commemorating the TV show The Simpsons would be a mega seller. The agency ordered one billion Simpsons stamps, but only managed to sell 318 million of them during 2009 and 2010. That left a surplus of 682 million stamps at a cost of $1.2 million.
Similarly, the Postal Service ordered 500 million “Flags of our Nation” stamps, but only sold 120 million of them during 2010 and 2011. That led to a waste of 380 million stamps and $716,000.
If the USPS were to cut back on the over production of such commemorative and special issue stamps, it could save roughly $2 million a year.
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