PhotoStamps Are Back
Category: Society & Culture...
Posted Wednesday, April 27, 2005 at 05:33 PM [GMT-6]

Remember PhotoStamps, the service from Stamps.com that promised to let you design your own legal-for-Postal-Service-tender stamps? You may recall that it shut down a few months after starting up due to unsurprising abuse by an unruly customer base.

Well, regular Gazette contributor and Haiku King Larry Stephey just notified me that PhotoStamps is back in business and ready to makes stamps from any photo you submit. Well, subject, of course, to a few restrictions. Most of them are common sense, but they've added a restriction against submitting a photo of celebrities or celebrity likenesses, regional, national or international leaders or politicians, current or former world leaders, convicted criminals, or newsworthy, notorious or infamous images and individuals.

Well. As before, one must wonder how they intend to police this restriction. How will they know if someone is a "regional leader or politician"? Does a Midland City Councilman qualify, or do you have to be a County Commissioner? Or what about convicted criminals (assuming there's no redundancies in categorization, of course)? Are they going to do background checks on the subjects of all submitted photos? And, pray tell, what is the criteria by which one determines if a subject is "newsworthy, notorious or infamous"?

Presumably, if you happen to, in fact, be one of the people listed above, you can submit your own photo, under the "family fun" category. But what if your family member is a convicted criminal? Which rule takes precedence?

I gotta tell you, I think it will be a while before PhotoStamps can lick these problems.

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Comments

Groan.

Posted by: jasmine at April 27, 2005 07:49 PM

You realize that a comment like that could cause me to go postal.

Posted by: Eric at April 27, 2005 08:46 PM

I have no more to say. You've stuck me in a corner.

Posted by: jasmine at April 27, 2005 09:07 PM

Are you suggesting that we cancel this line of discussion?

Posted by: Eric at April 27, 2005 09:10 PM

Weight! We're making your POSTage meter count higher!

Posted by: jasmine at April 27, 2005 10:01 PM

Well, I can't top that delivery.

Posted by: Eric at April 27, 2005 10:23 PM

Ouch. Pushing the envelope of tastelessness (or does it taste like glue)? Let me help...

Today I created and ordered what may be the world's first stereographic postage stamps.

The picture linked in my signature is my son, before he cleaned up and graduated from college. The triplet image is arranged in a left-right-left sequence. The pair on the left can be viewed in 3D stereo by "staring through" the pair. The pair on the right can be viewed in 3D stereo by focusing "in front" of the pair.

I ordered a sheet of left images and a sheet of right images, in the postcard denomination of $0.23 so that one of each stamp can be put on an envelope for first class, even if the USPS raises the rate to $0.37 next year.

I also intend to order more of the Archie L. Walker stamp I ordered last time the service was available, and make a brand new Ferdie M. Walker stamp.

Hey Eric, it's about time Abbye had her own postage. Don't let her be the last pooch on the block without her own stamp. The mail-delivery-persons will love it!

Let's get creative.

Posted by: Larry S. at April 28, 2005 11:28 AM

Oops. Make that ,"$0.39 next year."

Posted by: Larry S. at April 28, 2005 11:32 AM

Here is where I heard photostamps were coming back. Look for the "Listen" link.

Posted by: Larry S. at April 28, 2005 12:27 PM

Larry, those stereo stamps are a pretty cool idea, although I have to admit that I've thus far failed in my attempts to focus (or unfocus) my eyes just right. That's kind of strange, because I have no problem at all with the "Magic Eye" kind of 3D images. I guess I need to keep practicing.

As far as putting Abbye on a stamp, I've been having a hard time getting her to sign a release. She can be such a prima donna sometimes!

Posted by: Eric at April 28, 2005 02:16 PM

Larry beat me to it. Abbye stamps would be amazing!

Some of your photos are absolutely fantastic. The lighting, the richness of the color, everything.

She could become the Fireant's Postal Goodwill Ambassador. Maybe her reluctance to sign the release is a tactic to get her price up.

Or maybe she's just pawsing to consider her decision.

Posted by: Mr. Freen at April 28, 2005 06:49 PM

I will remind all my faithful and intrepid readers that the photos of Abbye are royalty-free and not subject to any license restrictions. ;-)

Posted by: Eric at April 28, 2005 08:58 PM
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