A personalised stamp is a postage stamp where a picture or photograph can be added to the stamp by a member of the public, some non-governmental entity, or a governmental entity that is not in an official stamp-issuing capacity; it is obviously to be distinguished from personalised rubber stamps[1] as well as "Postal Pal," a label with picture on which a regular postage-stamp can be placed. (In Austria the denomination of personalised stamps can now be changed as well.)[2] In addition to mere personal expression the designs of personalized stamps have served a number of other purposes such as the attempt to find missing persons.[3] Some stamp-issuing entities have in turn used their personalised stamp systems to issue "personalised" stamps personalised by the stamp issuing entity.[4]
What is or possibly could be characterised as advocacy has also given rise to controversy; see below.
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Personalised stamps can be obtained by the public or would-be purchasers or designers in a number of ways.
Åland Post offers personalised stamps.[5]
The Austrian Postal Service[6] has permitted personalisation of postage stamps.
Australia Post has permitted personalisation of labels adjoining its stamps. They cost AU$19.95 per set. [7]
Canada Post[8] has permitted personalisation of postage stamps.
Personalised stamps are available in Finland in sheets of 20 and eight-stamp booklets.[9]
La Poste offers personalised stamps.[10]
Deutsche Post offers personalised stamps.[11]
Gibraltar offers personalised stamps.[12]
Japan Post offers personalised postage stamps.[13]
In Luxembourg one may personalise a label beside the stamp.[14]
Malaysia Post offers personalised stamps, though apparently purchasing is restricted to certain entities.[15]
Royal TGP Post has permitted personalisation of postage stamps.[16]
Poczta Polska has permitted personalisation of labels adjoining several types of Polish postage stamps.[17]
Ukraine has permitted personalisation of labels adjoining its stamps.[18]
Royal Mail[19] has permitted personalisation of labels adjoining their stamps.
The United Nations[20] has permitted personalisation of labels adjoining its stamps.
In the United States, personalized stamps – also known as customized postage – are technically a form of meter labels and are governed by the United States Postal Service. As meter labels, they are not supposed to be cancelled.
While consumers may find that customized postage is available in a number of retail and online outlets, the USPS has authorized different companies to handle select aspects of the program.
Providers, including Pitney Bowes, Endicia and Stamps.com, are authorized to generate, transmit and print the indicia barcodes, ensure that images conform to USPS standards, market and sell customized postage and fulfill customer orders.
Partners such as Zazzle can approve imagery, market, sell and fulfill orders, but they must be associated with an authorized provider who creates the indicia using an approved postage evidencing system.
Affiliates like Fuji can market, sell and fulfill orders, but are not authorized to approve imagery or print postage and must be associated with an authorized provider who creates the indicia using an approved postage evidencing system.
Pitney Bowes,[21] Stamps.com,[22] Zazzle.com and Fuji offer United States Postal Service-approved personalised postage via Stamp Expressions,[23] PhotoStamps[24] and ZazzleStamps and Yourstamps.com respectively.
Some customers order the postage online and it is mailed to the recipient at a premium over the cost of postage; there has been some criticism of how much this premium is.[25] Somewhat different is PremierPostage.com, which offers licensed U.S. postage of a similar type (outside the regular U.S. stamp programme and with similar indica), but issued by the company, not personalised by the individual.
Consumers and businesses can also print their own postage using a small, specialized printer, such as the Pitney Bowes Stamp Expressions Printer.[26] Recent innovations include postal kiosks, where consumers can download an image at their local convenience store.
While initially considered a consumer application, Pitney Bowes offers a Customized Postage Partnership Program [27] that provides corporations and small business owners with an opportunity to take advantage of this business opportunity. Commercial applications include:
Although most postal regulations permit the exclusion of "objectionable" pictures on the stamps, The Smoking Gun in its investigation managed to create American postage stamps featuring the Rosenbergs, Jimmy Hoffa, Ted Kaczynski, Monica Lewinsky's dress, Slobodan Milošević and Nicolae Ceauşescu.[28]
Within a few weeks of the article detailing this abuse, PhotoStamps revised its policies, and as of September 2004 the company no longer accepted images that included adults or teenagers. They have since allowed these images again, under more stringent terms of service.[29]
At least some Yourstamps sheets come with a bonus of free stickers.[30]
REACT Consulting Group filed a lawsuit against Zazzle for allowing Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) ZazzleStamps it alleged promoted or could promote an anti-hunting agenda while rejecting designs claiming "sportsmen" were conservationists. Some of the HSUS ZazzleStamps were later removed from sale (on August 31, 2006), an action preceded by calls from SuperVegan blog to "BUY TONS NOW!".[31][32] However, there have been questions about why stamps which appear to promote hunting have been permitted.
In some cases certain aspects of copyright law relating to personalised postage are unclear.[33] However, Canada Post claims sole copyright in Canadian personalised stamps.[34]
