Did you know that you can design your own, legitimate, U.S. postage stamps? I mean, something you can stick on an envelope, and it will actually get the letter mailed?
Well, yes, you can. The FAQ is here.
For $16.99, you can have one sheet of twenty regular 37 cent postage stamps made with a picture you select on it. (It’s $14.99 each if you order two or more.) Get a digital image, follow the instructions on the website to pop it in a frame, and soon you’ll have your own personalized sheet of stamps.
Of course, there are restrictions. The place does have people looking at the pictures, and they reserve the right to reject pictures for a number of reasons.
So if you feel that the U.S. Postal Service has sadly neglected great Americans like Jenna Jameson, this is not your chance to redress this injustice with action portraits. However, as this and this illustrate, those checking the stamp submissions are hardly omniscient.
What is particularly appealing about this as a gift is that it is a technically oriented gift likely to appeal to all but the most technophobic. For instance, take a picture of Grandma or girlfriend or whomever with your digital camera, add a caption laying it on thick like “World’s Greatest _________,” and you’re set. It’s something she can use, and it’s a gift that just keeps on giving long after Christmas Day.
Look, it’s more sentimental than giving either of them an Ethernet card. Really. Trust me on this one. 🙂
For other types for different occasions, well, I’m sure you could think of something. Just for starters, I could see some [H]ard stamps real soon. 🙂
Yes, you’re paying seventeen dollars for about seven dollars’ worth of stamps, but you’re likely to get a rather different and much less desirable emotional reaction from the recipient if you try to penny-pinch here.
Yes, this is for U.S. stamps only, and I realize that about half the audience is not “Made in the U.S.A.” I’ll be more than happy to amend this article to include any other similiar service providing this for any other land. If not available where you live, maybe you ought to ask the postal folks there to consider it.
Give it a thought.
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