For my job, I frequently have to go to the post office, which is conveniently right next door. Right now, they’re gearing up for their big Star Wars celebration, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the movies. One of the things being advertised at the moment is the stamp design vote contest. There is a poster featuring all the designs on the wall right next to one of the check-out stations, which I have noticed before, but didn’t think much about it.
This time in the post office, though, there were several people ahead of me in line, and I was entertaining myself by listening to other people’s conversations. The guy who happened to be at the counter just then was studying the poster while the postal employee was getting his stuff ready, and he said something I didn’t expect. What was it? He asked her if the Star Wars stamp designs were legal, because they had people in them, and those people weren’t really dead yet. She replied that she and the other employees had wondered the same thing.
I have to admit, it hadn’t even occurred to me before this that there must be rules about what can and cannot be on a stamp. I’ve admired the artwork on the various new stamps that come out on a fairly regular basis, (I was really fond of the Hershey’s kiss one that came out for Valentine’s Day this year,) but I didn’t really think about how the various designs were chosen. So, of course, I looked it up.
Posted by Dana
