US Stamps

What should the USPS do about the Maya Angelou forever stamp error?

Apr 9, 2015, 11 AM

The New York Times reports that the U.S. Postal Service is not planning on reissuing the Maya Angelou forever stamp with a different quote.

We've reported on the U.S. Postal Service's use of someone else's quote on the new Maya Angelou forever stamp

We've reported on similar mistakes of the past

Now, we're reporting what should happen in the present and future. Or at least what our readers think should happen.

STAMP POLL: What should the US Postal Service do about the misattributed quote on the Maya Angelou forever stamp?1....

Posted by Linn's Stamp News & Scott Catalogue on Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Here are the responses we've received so far:

Katie Schlilaty: "Pull them all back. Announce that they are pulling them all back just so people can buy them up if they want and then reissue another stamp with one of her quotes. A small one so we can have her beautiful face taking up more of the stamp! It could just say "Still I rise!" and that would be so sweet!"

Allen Rinnemaki: "Pull the stamps and wait 9 more years to issue a stamp to honor her."

Ray Kerstetter: "1. and make plenty of them so the first one won't be a rarity , and please next time do some more research! Not the first time you goofed up!"

Andy King: "1 - history is counting on correctness"

Judith Ouellette Nadreau: "Halt the presses and get it right. The mistakes will become collector's items. Ms Angelou deserves to be represented honestly."

Neil Armstrong: "Destroy all the unsold ones because I bought some yesterday already"

Gregory Schreiber: "3 - Too late, the damage is already done. If they print all new stamps, they will be criticized for spending so much money needlessly."

Phil Atarium: "3, but really like Matthew Healey's suggestion"

Dick Olsen: "3. It sure isn't the first time those overpaid bureaucrats in DC screwed up."

Barry Cantin: "1 - Andy King nailed it."

John Cokeley Foster: "You forgot the other choice. Keep the quote and change the subject."

Rita Dumaine: "Leave it."

Melanie G. Rogers: "1. Accuracy is important."

Aimee Poitevin Devine: "Turn it into an overprint with one of Joan Walsh Anglund's cute illustrations."

Stan Bartnikowski: "Leave the quote. We don't need another Legends of the West fiasco."

Allen Rinnemaki: "Ask Oprah what to do?"

Matthew Healey: "Nothing wrong with the quote, it was often attributed to her. But if the USPS wants to get creative, they could reissue the stamp as a part of a block of four, together with three other quotes that really did originate with Angelou. Sort of like the Yoda stamp strategy in reverse."

Mark Koozer: "1. Issue new stamp with her real quote. Need to keep historically accurate. This is the USPS! Sell both versions, history then will always note the error."

Danforth Guy: "Issue a second stamp with an Angelou quotation, leaving two official stamps. That says "Yep, we messed up. Here's the fix." Withdraw no stamps. It will create great buzz and no doubt generate sales of BOTH issues."

John Mueller: "#1 it has to be corrected or the error continues"

Karolen Linderman: "#3"

Bob Bechill: "2"

April Edy: "1"