A New Trial Run for Do-It-Yourself Stamps

NPR | By Rachael Myrow

Published May 1, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT

The United States Postal Service is now allowing people to make their own customized stamps -- within limits.

The first company to provide the stamps is the same one that ran a trial program last fall. Stamps.com, based in Los Angeles. A year-long trial run starts May 17.

The Postal Service is still not convinced that designing one's own stamps will stick around. It may be just a fad. But in an earlier two-month trial, consumers bought 2.75 million photo stamps, generating $2.3 million for Stamps.com.

Some of those were deemed inappropriate for public display. CEO Ken McBride says the firm has beefed up its screening staff to "recognize those types of images."

Rachael Myrow

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