Anyone who’d like to get a special first-day-of-issue postmark for the new holiday stamps has 60 days from the stamp’s issue to request it. Requests for the first-day-o-fissue postmark for the Christmas stamp must be received by December 21, requests for the Winter Holidays stamps must be received by December 9 and requests for the Hanukkah and Kwanzaa stamps must be received by December 10.

To get the postmark, customers should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

(Winter Holidays) (Hanukkah) (Kwanzaa) Stamp(s)
Postmaster
421 Eighth Ave., Rm. 2029B
New York, NY 10199-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for this service.

At the peak of its success during the early 1970’s, international airline Pan was well known for its trademark slogan, “World’s Most Experienced Airline.”  And some of that experience dates back to the birth of Foreign Air Mail.

In the 1920’s, as airmail was ‘taking off’ all across America, the U.S. government was eager to develop mail service between North and South America. On March 8, 1928, Congress passed the Foreign Air Mail Act to regulate that international service.  A few weeks later, the Postmaster General solicited bids for companies to take over a wide-ranging network of mail routes all across Latin America and the Caribbean. Continue reading