How much longer is the USPS going to milk the Vanishing Species semi-postal stamp? The stamp depicting a tiger cub has been, in my opinion, a dud. In four years of sales, the USPS sold just over 25 million stamps raising almost $3 million. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a worthy cause. But the public just doesn’t seem that interested in it. Compare it to the Breast Cancer research semi-postal that has been in service since 1998 raising about $80 million. Politicians and customers seem to like this stamp. Anytime the USPS thinks about discontinuing it, Congress steps in to pass a bill requiring the USPS to keep it on sale.

I like the recent Missing Children stamp. The Forget-Me-Not flower is the perfect design in this simplistic stamp. But this is where I think the USPS missed the mark. This issue would have been a perfect candidate for a semi-postal. How many people would shell out the extra money for a stamp where the excess money funds organizations devoted to finding missing and exploited children? I think lots of customers would be interested in this semi-postal. The funds raised could have made an important impact in so many young lives.

The USPS blew it. This issue should have been a semi-postal. I’m sure it would have raised a lot of much needed funds.