• by Tricia Despres , February 22, 2008

I had never licked an ad — until now. There is a long history of the appearance of U.S. postage stamps being highly regulated — but to hell with it, we’re in the Internet age and stamps can now have all the class of a used car lot.

Back in 2004 when stamps.com was launched, it was the first company ever to get approval from the USPs to create custom postage, then in 2006 the company was authorized to print business logos, messages and images on these Photostamps. Since then, companies such as Fidelity Investments, Nautica and even USA Today have been stuck on the idea of using the upper right hand corner of millions of pieces of mail as valuable advertising space. “We are excited to offer businesses a new way to create awareness for their products and services,” says Ken McBride, Stamps.com president and CEO. “We think PhotoStamps for Business has broad applications for small businesses all the way up to large corporate mailers.” Sounds sort of… like… Nascar.

J. Edward Day, who was the postmaster general during the Kennedy Administration, must be rolling over in his grave. When he received a request from an individual who wanted to be honored on a stamp he famously wrote, “We cannot put the face of a person on a stamp unless said person is deceased. My suggestion, therefore, is that you drop dead.”