{{Use American English, date=November 2020
The stamp program of a postal organization is an umbrella term for the entire process of
postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...
issuance and distribution by the organization. Aspects include the decision of about stamps to issue, what
postal rate
Postal may refer to:
Places
* The Italian name for Burgstall, South Tyrol in northern Italy
* Postal, Missouri
* Postal Square
* Postal Museum (Liechtenstein), a postal museum in Vaduz, Liechtenstein
People
* Fred Postal, former co-owner o ...
s they will pay,
postage stamp design
Postage stamp design is the activity of graphic design as applied to postage stamps. Many thousands of designs have been created since a profile bust of Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria was adopted for the Penny Black in 1840; some ...
, printing, and publicity for the new stamps. The stamp program is generally managed by a specialized department within the organization, which balances demands from the rest of the organization, the nation's government, stamp collectors, and the public which actually buy and use the stamps.
Originally, the choice of stamps to issue was primarily driven by changes to postal rates, and by major changes in the government (for instance, the accession of a new monarch meant that the stamp portrait had to change). Results of research show that the process was often very hasty and reactive, sometimes only a few days or weeks elapsing between the identification of a need and the beginning of printing and distribution.
Through the 20th century, the process became more organized; for instance, it proved possible to sell more
commemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike defi ...
s if the public was formally informed of their availability, which inspired
first day of issue
A first day of issue cover or first day cover (FDC) is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope Franking, franked on the first day the issue is authorized for useBennett, Russell and Watson, James; ''Philatelic Terms Illustrate ...
ceremonies. In turn, simultaneous availability nationwide meant that everything had to be planned out ahead of time. Postal administrations also discovered that collectors were not a bottomless well of money, and that excessive stamp issues would simply go unpurchased, so they decide ahead of time how many stamps are a "reasonable" number.
The upshot is that much of a year's stamp program is known and can be announced in advance. In 2005 for instance,
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation (, trading as Canada Post (), is a Canadian Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada.
Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operating name of the Post Office Department of the Can ...
announced its 2006 stamps in July 2005, while the
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...
(USPS) announced at the end of November.
The existence of a preannounced program does not preclude last-minute changes; a
souvenir sheet
A souvenir sheet or miniature sheet is a postage stamp or a small group of postage stamps still attached to the sheet on which they were printed. They may be either regular issues that just happen to be printed in small groups (typical of many ea ...
commemorating the
Mars Pathfinder
''Mars Pathfinder'' was an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a rover (space exploration), roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a Lander (spacecraft), lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a ligh ...
mission was issued by the USPS December 10, 1997, some five months after the touchdown, while the "United We Stand" stamp in response to the
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...